"The key element in that dynamic is the relationship between the US and China," Yeo told an audience at the Global Leadership Forum here.

"It's the single most important relationship in the world today," he said, responding to a question over the stand-off between Stalinist North Korea and the international community over Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

Th United States and China are involved in six-party nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea and Yeo said good US-Sino ties would enable the problem to be managed.

"If that relationship stays affable, and I think there are good chances it will stay affable, then the North Korean problem can be managed, the cross-straits problem can be managed," he said, referring to strained relations between China and Taiwan.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to retake the island should it formally declare independence.

If US-China ties were ever to break down then "the cross-straits relations will become very complicated, I think there will be a blow-up in the Korean peninsula and other problems in the Middle East cannot be solved," warned Yeo.

"I would say that relationship is something that we must have an eye on and it's a relationship we should have a deep interest in," he said.

The nuclear standoff flared in October 2002 when the United States accused North Korea of developing a secret uranium-enrichment program in violation of a 1994 arms control pact.

Pyongyang has denied the US charges but declared in February this year that it had already built nuclear bombs.

Since 2003 the six-nation talks also involving South Korea, Russia and Japan have aimed to persuade North Korea to dump its nuclear weapons in exchange for diplomatic and economic benefits and security guarantees.

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express