Beijing: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged all parties on Thursday not to heighten tensions on the Korean peninsula and said China had already clearly condemned North Korea’s latest missile test.
“Regarding North Korea’s recent missile launch, once again in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, China has already clearly expressed our opposition,” Wang told a news conference in Beijing.
“At the same time, we also call on all parties not to take any actions that will lead to an escalation in tensions,” Wang said ahead of regional meetings in Manila later this week.
Pyongyang said on Saturday it had conducted another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that proved its ability to strike the United States.
US. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who will also attend the ASEAN Regional Forum in Manila, is expected to press China and other countries in the region to take tougher action against North Korea.
On Tuesday, Tillerson reiterated that Washington had sought to persuade North Korea to give up its missile and nuclear weapons programmes through peaceful pressure, and that it did not seek a collapse of Kim Jong-un’s regime.
Asked about those comments, Wang said China attached importance to Tillerson’s remarks about the Korean peninsula and hoped that the United States could implement them successfully.
Wang said he hoped all sides could move forward together through dialogue to find a solution quickly that addresses each other’s security concerns.
North Korea is set to face a diplomatic barrage over its nuclear weapons programme at a security forum in Manila starting this weekend, with the United States seeking to build a “chorus of condemnation”.
Foreign ministers from all the major powers involved in trying to curtail North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s atomic ambitions will be in the Philippine capital for the event, offering a rare chance for face-to-face talks on the crisis.
The United States and China have been wrestling with how best to respond to North Korea’s second intercontinental ballistic missile test last week, which deepened global fears over Kim’s nuclear weapons strike capabilities.
“What we would expect to see this year at the meeting would be a general chorus of condemnation of North Korea’s provocative behaviour,” Susan Thornton, the acting US assistant secretary of state, told reporters in Washington.
This year they will express “grave concern” over North Korea’s missile tests, according to a draft copy of the chairman’s statement obtained by journalists.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte also set the stage for the talks on Wednesday with a blistering critique of Kim.
“He is playing with dangerous toys and this crazy man, do not be fooled by his face, that chubby face that looks nice,” Duterte said, as he warned Kim could trigger a nuclear war that would destroy Asia.
“That son-of-a-whore maniac, if he makes a mistake then the Far East will become an arid land.”
The draft of the chairman’s statement flagged the North, to be represented by Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho, will offer a typically defiant response to the diplomatic pressure.
“The DPRK (North Korea) claimed during the meeting that its nuclear weapons programme is an act of self-defence against a hostile policy towards it,” said the statement, which is due to be released at the end of the meeting on Monday.
Tillerson will not hold direct talks with Ri in Manila, according to Thornton.
But Tillerson is expected to meet with the top envoys from the other nations in stalled “six-party” negotiations aimed at reining in Pyongyang’s nuclear programme: China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
The 10 ASEAN foreign ministers will first hold talks among themselves on Friday and Saturday, during which the region’s other major flashpoint issue — rival claims in the South China Sea and China’s growing presence there — will be a top agenda item.
