China vows positive role over Korean Peninsula situation

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday warned against any action that could lead to the escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing, "We will continue to play a positive role in promoting a 'soft landing' of the Korean Peninsula situation."

China's top nuclear envoy Wu Dawei is in the United States this week for talks with his US counterpart Glyn Davies. They were scheduled to hold talks on Monday and Tuesday in New York and on Thursday in Washington.

Last week, Wu held talks with his counterpart of the Republic of Korea Hwang Joon-kook and exchanged views regarding the Korean Peninsula situation and the resumption of the six-party talks.

Tensions have been heightened on the Peninsula in recent weeks, during which the Democratic People's Republic of Korea fired missiles, both the two Koreas fired artillery shells into each other's waters, and Pyongyang threatened to conduct a "new form" of nuclear test.

"China is opposed to any move that may result in tensions in the region, whether they be joint drills or the threat of conducting nuclear tests," said the spokeswoman.

The Korean Peninsula situation, she said, was fairly "sensitive" and "fragile".

To maintain peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and northeast Asia, and properly push forward denuclearization of the Peninsula meets the common interests of all parties involved and the expectation of people in the region, Hua said.

As a responsible country, China adheres to an objective and just position on the matter, and advocates to settle the problem through dialogues, she added.

Hua urged parties concerned to bear in mind the larger picture and make joint efforts to ease the situation.