China has urged North and South Korea to avoid escalating tensions caused by the sinking of a South Korean warship near the disputed sea border between the two states, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said on Thursday.
The 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette sunk on the night of March 26 near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea after a sudden explosion that killed 46 sailors.
A team of international investigators confirmed on Thursday suspicions that the ship was destroyed by a torpedo launched from a North Korean submarine.
The White House described the act as a challenge to international peace and security. North Korea has called the results of the investigation "a fabrication."
"We have taken into account the published results and call for all parties to show restraint and avoid escalating tensions," the Chinese spokesman said, adding that Beijing was maintaining contacts with all interested parties over the issue.
He reiterated that Beijing considers six-party talks the best way to establish peace and stability in the region.
China has stuck to an impartial approach in resolving international and regional conflicts and has called for the interested parties to do the same, Ma said.
Commenting on Thursday on the evidence gathered by a team of international investigators, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said "this act of aggression is one more instance of North Korea's unacceptable behavior and defiance of international law." He said such behavior only served to deepen North Korea's isolation.
The conclusions of the investigation may lead to further deterioration of the already sour relations between the two Koreas and jeopardize international efforts to stop Pyongyang's controversial nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development programs.
Talks on North Korea's nuclear program, involving Russia, Japan, China, the United States and the two Koreas, stalled last April when Pyongyang pulled out of the negotiations in protest against the United Nations' condemnation of its missile tests.
North Korea, which has been under international sanctions over its nuclear developments, has warned Seoul of stern response if the South retaliated with new sanctions against Pyongyang over the alleged attack on its warship.
The two countries remain technically at war as their 1950-1953 conflict ended only in an armistice. Naval clashes between the South and the North over the disputed sea border took place in 1999, 2002 and last year.
BEIJING, May 20 (RIA Novosti)
