US policies on Korean Peninsula criticized

The United States' "flip-flop" in policies, its failure to uphold the results of previous dialogue, and its disregard for the reasonable concerns of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have led to instability on the Korean Peninsula, said China's top envoy to the United Nations on Wednesday.

"Where the situation goes from here will depend, to a large extent, on the actions of the US, and the key lies in whether the US can face up to the crux of the problem, demonstrate a responsible attitude, and take meaningful and concrete actions," Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told a UN General Assembly debate.

Under the current circumstances, Zhang said "all parties should remain calm, exercise restraint and avoid any action that could escalate tensions and lead to miscalculation".

To fundamentally resolve the peninsula issue requires following the general direction of political settlement, dialogue and consultation, abandoning the old approach of imposing sanctions and exerting pressure. The Security Council must also play a constructive role, and the security interests of regional countries need to be safeguarded.

Since the DPRK took denuclearization measures in 2018, "the US side did not reciprocate, did not address the DPRK's legitimate and reasonable concerns, nor did it demonstrate the necessary sincerity for resolving the issue", he said.

"There are many things the United States can do, such as easing sanctions on the DPRK in certain areas and ending joint military exercises. The key is action, not just talk about readiness for dialogue with no preconditions," Zhang said.

Active efforts urged

Relevant countries should not place one-sided emphasis on the implementation of sanctions, but should also make active efforts to promote a political solution and ease sanctions in due course.

Zhang also said the US has recently been stirring up problems in the Asia-Pacific region and has been carrying out nuclear submarine cooperation with relevant countries in the region, developing hypersonic weapons and selling cruise missiles that can carry nuclear warheads to other countries.

"These moves have completely revealed its double standards and hypocrisy on the issue of nuclear nonproliferation," he said.

The US has been "vigorously "implementing its "Indo-Pacific strategy" and strengthening military alliances with relevant regional countries, which "aggravate the risks of a military confrontation in the region".

"A certain politician of an individual regional country is clamoring for so-called nuclear sharing with the US, intentionally reversing the wheels of history on the issue of nuclear weapons, seriously impacting the process of resolving the peninsula nuclear issue and poisoning the regional security environment," he said.

It is not in the interest of any country to stoke confrontation between different camps in the Asia-Pacific region, the envoy said.

As a close neighbor of the peninsula, China has "always insisted on maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, achieving a denuclearized peninsula, and resolving the issue through dialogue and consultations", Zhang said.