China: Peninsula talks take on sense of urgency

China on Tuesday highlighted the urgency of resuming peaceful dialogue to end the ongoing "vicious circle" on the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan.

The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday adopted a presidential statement by consensus, condemning the "outrageous" missile launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and demanding that Pyongyang cease such actions and comply with all relevant council resolutions.

The Security Council said it was of "vital importance" that DPRK take "immediate, concrete" actions to reduce tensions on the peninsula and beyond. It called on all states to implement all UN sanctions related to the DPRK strictly and fully.

Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, called on the DPRK to follow council resolutions and on all parties to refrain from any actions that might exacerbate the situation.

Resolution 2371 (2017) called for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks and pledged to seek a political and peaceful solution, Liu said.

"The dual-track approach proposed by China was a relevant option for such a solution," he said, reiterating China's support for the peninsula's denuclearization and its opposition to "any chaos or war" there.

He said any military escalation - including the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems - would increase tensions and undermine the security of the region, including China's.

The DPRK confirmed Wednesday that it test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile Tuesday to counter the ongoing US-Republic of Korea (ROK) joint military drills, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un personally guided the launch from a military base in the capital Pyongyang, reported Xinhua, citing the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The missile, fired from an area near Pyongyang, landed in the Pacific Ocean off the island of Hokkaido after a flight of about 2,500 kilometers (about 1,550 miles).

Afterward, both Washington and Tokyo urged applying more pressure to Pyongyang, and, in Beijing, the Foreign Ministry called for all parties concerned to exercise restraint and treat the situation with cool heads.

"Indeed, the current situation is approaching a tipping point toward a crisis as well as a turning point that marks the opening of a gate for peaceful talks," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news conference in Beijing.

US President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that all options are on the table for the United States to respond to DPRK's latest test-fire.

"Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table," Trump said in a statement.

Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed over the phone that now is not the right time for dialogue with the DPRK and that increased pressure is necessary, the White House said.

In response, Hua said that the peninsula issue cannot ultimately be resolved simply by imposing pressure and sanctions, and the only right way to resolve it is to address the reasonable security concerns of all parties through dialogue.

"Only by doing so can the vicious circle among the nuclear tests, missile launches (by Pyongyang) and military drills (by the US and the ROK) be terminated fundamentally," Hua said.

In response, ROK fighter jets conducted a live-fire drill on Tuesday in the northeastern part of the country.

Zhang Liangui, an expert in Korean studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said Tuesday's missile launch further violated UN Security Council resolutions.

This month, the council unanimously adopted a resolution toughening sanctions on the DPRK following Pyongyang's tests in July of what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Relations at Nanjing University, said the crisis in August should be used as an opportunity to end the peninsula impasse.