BEIJING - The top Chinese and US diplomats pledged Saturday to work together to resolve the crisis on the Korean peninsula, where tensions are at fever pitch and Pyongyang has threatened nuclear war.
"To properly address the Korean nuclear issue serves the common interests of all parties," China's State Councillor Yang Jiechi said ahead of a formal dinner with visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry.
"It is also the shared responsibility of all parties," added Yang, who is in charge of Beijing's foreign policy. "China will work with other relevant parties including the United States to play a constructive role," he said.
Neither official gave details of any concrete measures that had been agreed. But Kerry said they would have "further discussions to bear down very quickly with great specificity on exactly how we will accomplish this goal".
China has backed North Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953 and is its sole major ally and the provider of the vast majority of its trade and aid.
Kerry earlier pressed Beijing to use its leverage with Pyongyang to try to calm the crisis.
"China and the United States must together take steps in order to achieve the goal of a denuclearised Korean peninsula," he said.
Yang said: "Both China and the United States are now confronted with a complex and volatile international situation." — Agence France Presse
source: gmanetwork.com
