BEIJING: China’s ruling Communist Party continues to hold talks and maintain contacts with its North Korean counterpart, a senior official said on Saturday, describing the two countries friendship as important for regional stability.
While the United States and its allies, and many people in China, believe Beijing should do more to rein in Pyongyang, the acceleration of North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities has coincided with a near-total breakdown of high-level diplomacy between the two.
China, Pyongyang’s sole major ally, has said it will strictly enforce UN Security Council sanctions banning imports of coal, textiles and seafood, while cutting off oil shipments to the North. China accounts for more than 90 per cent of world trade with the isolated country.
Guo Yezhou, a deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international department, told reporters on the sidelines of a party congress that its exchanges, communication and dialogue with the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea were continuing.
“China and North Korea are neighbours and the two have a traditional friendly cooperative relationship,” Guo said.
Maintaining, developing and consolidating those ties not only accord with both sides’ interests, they also have “important meaning” for regional peace and stability, he added.
Rohingya crisis: Experience shows that foreign interference in crises does not work and China supports the Myanmar government’s efforts to protect stability, Guo said, amid ongoing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
— Reuters
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