Is China coming around?

BY EVAN RAMSTAD

SEOUL – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered the first hint that Beijing might be willing to budge from weeks of fence-sitting over the sinking of a South Korean warship, telling South Korea's leader that China won't prevent penalties for whoever is responsible for the deadly incident.

Mr. Wen's comments Friday, related by South Korean officials, stopped well short of conceding the involvement of China's longtime ally North Korea. Seoul has concluded that Pyongyang sank its patrol boat Cheonan on March 26, killing 46 South Korean sailors, and Beijing's failure to accept that finding has angered South Korean officials and the ...