In a statement Wednesday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said parties should "avoid remarks and actions that could aggravate conflicts and escalate tensions." "China calls on all relevant sides to uphold the broad direction of resolving the North Korean nuclear issue through political means," the statement said.
Tong Zhao, associate at the Carnegie Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, told CNN the recent tensions come at a time when Beijing is keen to promote stability ahead of the 19th Communist Party National Congress, China's twice a decade handover of power scheduled for later this year. "China has other regional crises as well, the border dispute with India, the South China Sea ... it's really bad timing for another real crisis to emerge in North Korea," Zhao said.
