China has appealed for "calm and restraint" from all
sides after North Korea said it was pulling out of six nation talks on
its nuclear weapons program.
Most of the questions at Tuesday's
regular Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing were about North Korea.
Chinese spokeswoman Jiang Yu had no critical words for Pyongyang and
basically repeated what her government has said in the past.
Jiang
says Beijing hopes the relevant parties can proceed from the overall
interest, to exert calmness and restraint, so as to work together to
safeguard the six party talks process.
China is a veto-wielding
member of the UN Security Council, so its support was crucial for a
presidential statement the council issued Monday that condemns North
Korea's long-range rocket launch nearly two weeks ago.
The
statement orders a UN sanctions committee to begin activating financial
sanctions, and an arms and limited trade embargo, as called for in an
already existing Security Council resolution passed two and a half
years ago.
Jiang acknowledged her country's support for the statement, but pointed out that it was not as harsh as it could have been.
Jiang
says the Security Council's presidential statement is a compromise
agreement that was reached through negotiations and consultations. She
says China did not support calls for a new Security Council resolution
that would levy even more sanctions on North Korea.
She stressed
that China and North Korea are friendly neighbors. She said Beijing
will continue to develop friendship and cooperation with Pyongyang.
China
has been the host country of the six party talks, which began in 2003
and also include North Korea, the United States, South Korea, Japan and
Russia.
The Chinese spokeswoman praised the meetings for, in
her words, "playing an important role in promoting the denuclearization
of the Korean peninsula, enhancing mutual trust among various nations
and establishing a security mechanism in Northeast Asia."
གཟའ་པ་སངས། ༢༠༢༤/༠༤/༢༦