China Urges Concrete Efforts for Peace in Korean Peninsula

By Zhang Xin
Global Times
Published: 2017/8/23 19:57:11

China stressed all parties should make concrete efforts for a peaceful settlement in the Korean Peninsula in response to remarks made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of a possible pathway to US-North Korea dialogue.

"With the concerted efforts of various parties, the extremely tense Korean Peninsula situation has shown some signs of abating, but it remains highly complex and sensitive. Parties directly concerned, including North Korea and the US, should exercise restraint and make more concrete efforts," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing on Wednesday.

"We also noticed that leaders of many countries have also said that the Korean Peninsula issue should be peacefully resolved. The call for dialogue, peace and de-escalation, rather than confrontation, war and provocation, represents the voice of the international community."

Tillerson told reporters at a State Department briefing on Tuesday that North Korea has "demonstrated some level of restraint" since the UN Security Council unanimously adopted new sanctions on its missile test on August 5, CBS News reported.

Tillerson said he hopes this is the beginning of North Korea being "ready to restrain their level of tensions," adding, "Perhaps, we are seeing our pathway to sometime in the near future, having some kind of dialogue."

Last week, under pressure from US President Donald Trump's threat that it may face "fire and fury," North Korea backed off from a plan to launch four ballistic missiles toward Guam, and said it wants to see what the US plans to do next.

China hopes various parties can send goodwill to each other and take actions conducive to easing tensions, to focus on peace talks, positively engage in dialogue for the peaceful settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue, Hua said.