File photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un [Xinhua]China on Friday warned that no one would win if there was war on the Korean Peninsula, advising against anything that could escalate the situation.
“We urge all parties to refrain from inflammatory or threatening statements or deeds to prevent irreversible damage to the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told journalists following talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault in Beijing.
“There has been heightened tension between the United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This precarious situation deserves our attention and concern,” Wang said.
“On the Korean Peninsula issue, it is not the one who espouses harsher rhetoric or raises a bigger fist that will win. If war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, multiple parties will lose and no one will win,” Wang stressed.
North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol has told Associated Press that the country “will go to war” if the US chooses to provoke it.
Pyongyang has criticised the aggression of the Trump presidency.
“Now we are comparing Trump’s policy toward [North Korea] with the former administration’s and we have concluded that it’s becoming more vicious and more aggressive,” the North Korean minister said criticising the deployment of a US naval strike group to the region.
The Pentagon sent the 97,000-ton USS Carl Vinson with an escort of a guided-missile cruiser and two destroyers after the latest missile test by North Korea last week.
US Vice President Mike Pence will travel to South Korea on Sunday.
On Friday, China said it is willing to present a feasible and detailed plan about the “dual-track approach” and “suspension for suspension” and is open to all helpful advice.
“The resumption of talks can be flexible. China supports all kinds of dialogue, regardless of if it is formal or informal, about denuclearization or peace mechanism, or involves two, three or four parties,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
“As a first step, the DPRK may suspend its nuclear and missile activities in exchange for the suspension of large-scale U.S.-ROK military exercises,” Wang said at a press conference last month.
Asked to comment on media reports that North Korea is prepared to test launch more missiles, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said China was following the developments and that UN resolutions demand that Pyongyang abandon all the nuclear programs.
TBP and Agencies
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