China reiterates call for consultations on Korean Peninsula
12:36 02/12/2010 BEIJING, December 2 (RIA Novosti) - China has reiterated its call for emergency consultations over the standoff on the Korean Peninsula.
On Sunday, China proposed consultations among delegations to the six-party talks on the Korean problem amid increasing tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul.
North Korea's shelling of the South's Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea last Tuesday killed four people and led both sides to threaten war.
The proposal was slated by the United States as propagandist but China rebutted the criticism.
"While it seems justified for someone to wield weapons, China, as host of the six-party talks, received criticism for proposing consultations. Is it fair?" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.
Russia has supported China's proposal, Jiang said.
"The starting point for China proposing emergency consultations is to let all parties sit at the negotiation table and exchange views on major issues, so as to ease the tensions on the Korean Peninsula," Jiang said.
Emergency consultations do not mean official six-party talks including China, the United States, Russia, Japan and both Koreas, Jiang added.
On Wednesday, South Korea and the United States concluded four-day naval drills to the west of the peninsula.
China has described North Korea a "spoiled child" and hinted it would favor a reunified Korea, according to U.S. embassy cables released by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
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