China urges N. Korea not to test missile
(AP/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-29 09:38
Beijing and Seoul have increasingly struck an evenhanded approach, trying to
coax the North into negotiations while encouraging the Bush administration not
to take actions that could worsen the situation.
Wen echoed this strategy, saying a resumption of the six-nation talks on
North Korea's nuclear programs - which also include the US, Russia, South
Korea and Japan - ofered the best opportunity for regional stability. He
suggested both North Korea and the United States need to moderate their
positions to get the talks back on track.
"We still believe that the six-party talks are the only way to a peaceful
settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula," Wen said. "So China
will work actively on the concerns of the various parties on the matter so that
we can resume negotiations as soon as possible and bring about a peaceful
solution to the nuclear issue."
Despite the preference for a peaceful solution, the Japanese Defense Minister
Fukushiro Nukaga said Tokyo was better prepared to deal with a North Korean
missile launch than in 1998 when Pyongyang fired a missile over northern Japan
into the Pacific Ocean.
Japan has dispatched Aegis-equipped warships and reconnaissance planes to
monitor the situation, and is coordinating intelligence gathering with the
United States, Nukaga said in Tokyo.
He acknowledged, however, that Japan does not have the capability to shoot
down the missile.
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