China urged North Korea on Wednesday to act
with calm and restraint, the day after the country announced that it planned to
carry out a nuclear test.
"We hope that North Korea will exercise necessary calm and restraint over the
nuclear test issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a
statement on Wednesday.
The Chinese spokesman also urged other countries not to deepen tensions.
"We also hope that all parties will make the necessary efforts to peacefully
resolve their mutual concerns through dialogue and consultation, and not take
actions that escalate tensions," Liu said.
China's statement came after North Korea said on Tuesday it would conduct its
first-ever nuclear test, blaming a US "threat of nuclear war and sanctions" for
forcing its hand.
Pyongyang's announcement caused alarm in many capitals.
The United States, France and Japan pressed for a UN response while South
Korea expressed grave concern at this latest behaviour from its neighbour.
Wang Guangya, China's Ambassador to the United Nations has
appealed for restraint in the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons,
calling six-nation talks the "best channel" to resolve tensions.
[AFP/File] |
Meanwhile, China's UN ambassador Wang Guangya also appealed for
restraint in the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons, calling six-nation
talks the "best channel" to resolve tensions.
"This is a sensitive issue, so I urge all sides to exercise restraint," Wang
said. "The best channel is still the six-party talks."
UN chief Kofi Annan joined the Security Council Tuesday in voicing "deep
concern" over North Korea's plan to test a nuclear weapon, with the United
States urging a coherent response.
Japan's UN ambassador Kenzo Oshima, the council president for October, said
the 15-member body would meet early Wednesday to come up with a "firm,
appropriate response" to what he called a "very serious matter".
North Korea gave no date for the planned test, but the shock announcement
raised grave concerns around the world three months after North Korea's missile
launches.
Through his spokesman, Annan said he shared "the global concern" over the
North Korean nuclear weapon test, which if carried out, "would bring universal
condemnation and will not help DPRK (Pyongyang) achieve the goals expressed in
its statement, particularly with regard to strengthening its security."
Diplomatic efforts have intensified to bring North Korea, which last year
declared itself a nuclear-armed nation, back to the disarmament talks.
But, Pyongyang says it will not return to the six-party talks unless
Washington ends financial sanctions imposed in September last year.
The country has refused to resume the six-party talks -- involving China,
Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States -- since last November to
protest those sanctions.
