BEIJING — China, after being snubbed in its call for six-way talks on North Korea, has warned the United States, Japan and South Korea not to "intensify confrontation" at a meeting next week in Washington.
North Korea's nuclear-armed regime last week launched a deadly artillery attack on South Korea and boasted about a new uranium reprocessing plant, deepening international concern about its intentions.
China, under pressure to bring its ally to heel, proposed to hold multilateral talks in Beijing in early December.
But that was rejected by the United States, South Korea and Japan, which will meet themselves in Washington on Monday.
"We'll keep a close watch on this meeting," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement issued late Thursday.
"As the situation on the Korean peninsula is highly complicated and sensitive, we expect the meeting to ease tensions and promote dialogue, rather than heighten tensions and intensify confrontation," Jiang said.
"We expect the three countries to take into account regional peace and stability and Korean peninsula denuclearisation and give a positive consideration to China's proposal" for emergency six-way talks, she added.
Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have pressed ahead with major naval drills in a show of force against North Korea, prompting China Thursday to assail countries "who brandish weapons" while rejecting its own call for dialogue.
Beijing has proposed a meeting of the six envoys to stalled negotiations on North Korea's nuclear drive, which bring together the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
But US Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said China needs to "step up" pressure on North Korea and that its call for the six-nation talks "will not substitute for action".
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will meet the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea in Washington, said Thursday she had consulted with senior Chinese and Russian officials ahead of the meeting.
"The US is very concerned about North Korea and we want to work with countries in the immediate region" she said, listing China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.
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