New York (CNN) -- The United States and China could play a crucial role in helping finally to resolve the conflict that plagues the Korean Peninsula, says analyst Fareed Zakaria. In one of the most violent incidents in decades, North Korea shelled a South Korean island Tuesday, killing four people. North Korea accused the South of provoking the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island by holding a military exercise in the Yellow Sea. And South Korea responded by charging that the North's actions were a "definite military provocation." In an interview with CNN, Zakaria said a long-term solution to the Korean conflict would require high-level secret talks aimed at assuring the government of China that if the two Koreas were reunified, it would not be faced with a nuclear-armed U.S. ally on its border.
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Fareed Zakaria: China has tremendous influence over North Korea
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He says China supplies much of the North's vital supplies and can play a positive role
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Zakaria says U.S. needs to work secretly with China to bring an end to conflict
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He says U.S. assurances could go long way toward gaining Chinese OK for reunification
He said China "has the power to make the North Koreans pay a very, very high price were they not to listen to the @placeholder, because the Chinese provide the vital food and fuel that keeps the country alive.