Xi urges France to help defuse Korea tensions
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on France to help ease the situation in North Korea during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, state media said Friday, days after Pyongyang's largest ever nuclear test.
The conversation came one day after statements from China supporting stronger sanctions against Pyongyang and "necessary measures" at the UN Security Council, where China and France both hold vetoes.
"China hopes that France, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, will play a constructive role in easing the situation and restarting dialogue" on North Korea, Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
North Korea triggered global alarm Sunday with its most powerful nuclear blast to date, claiming to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.
The blast triggered global condemnation and calls by the United States, South Korea, Japan and others for stronger UN Security Council sanctions against the North.
Macron told Xi that France is willing to strengthen cooperation with China to promote the proper settlement of the nuclear issue.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who held talks with Xi in eastern China during the BRICS summit earlier this week, has repeatedly insisted that further economic pressure on Pyongyang will not work.
Meanwhile, Mexico on Thursday expelled the ambassador of North Korea in protest over Pyongyang's latest nuclear test which it said posed "a grave risk for peace."
And Philippines yesterday suspended trade relations with North Korea to comply with a UN Security Council resolution over its repeated missile tests, Manila's foreign minister said.
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