Remarks at the Security Council Official Meeting
"Recent Positive Signals in Dialogue and Contact Among Parties"
China has emphasized that the international community should focus on creating an atmosphere for improving relations with North Korea, rather than maintaining a consistent stance of sanctions.
According to state-run Xinhua News Agency on May 8, Geng Shuang, Deputy Representative of the Chinese Embassy to the United Nations, stated at a Security Council meeting on the North Korea nonproliferation agenda held at the UN Headquarters in New York on the previous day, "Recently, some relevant parties have sent positive signals regarding dialogue and contact." He added, "China urges the parties to seize this opportunity, build mutual trust, and work together to ensure that the Korean Peninsula issue returns to the track of dialogue as soon as possible."
Deputy Representative Geng stressed, "The United States should first demonstrate goodwill and take actions to translate its attitude toward dialogue into concrete steps." He continued, "China has consistently argued that sanctions are a means, not an end, and that they should always serve the process of a political solution. The Security Council resolutions on North Korea include not only sanctions, but also provisions on political resolution and minimizing the negative impact on humanitarian aspects. None of these elements can be selectively enforced."
Deputy Representative Geng pointed out, "Recently, the United States has been using the Korean Peninsula issue to advance its 'Indo-Pacific Strategy,' strengthen military alliances, and reinforce extended deterrence, thereby creating bloc confrontation and a new Cold War. This not only fails to help resolve the Korean Peninsula issue politically, but also seriously undermines the security interests of regional countries such as China and causes a security dilemma."
On the previous day, the UN Security Council held a formal meeting on North Korea and discussed the ongoing violations of Security Council sanctions against North Korea, including North Korea-Russia military cooperation. The South Korean representative criticized North Korea for accelerating illegal activities in violation of Security Council resolutions and, with Russia's support, seeking to strengthen its conventional military capabilities by using the dispatch of North Korean troops to the war in Ukraine as a link, thereby creating a new phase of security threats.
In contrast, the representatives of Russia and North Korea argued that military cooperation between the two countries was conducted in accordance with treaties and in compliance with international law, and blamed the United States, South Korea, and other Western countries for escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
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