S Korea, Japan fail to persuade China to censure North

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Barack Obama

SEOGWIPO, South Korea, May 30 (AFP): China resisted pressure Sunday from South Korea and Japan to censure North Korea publicly for the sinking of a warship, calling only for regional tensions over the incident to be defused.
Host President Lee Myung-Bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama teamed up at the two-day summit to nudge China's Premier Wen Jiabao to declare Pyongyang responsible for the March sinking of the South Korean corvette.
But Wen gave no sign that China is ready to back United Nations Security Council action against its ally over the sinking, which cost 46 lives.
"The urgent task now is to defuse the impact of the Cheonan incident, change the tense situation and avoid clashes," Wen told a joint press conference on the southern resort island of Jeju.
"China will actively communicate with relevant parties and lead the situation to help promote peace and stability in the region, which fits our common and long-term interests best."
South Korea announced reprisals including a trade cut-off after international investigators reported on May 20 that a North Korean submarine fired a heavy torpedo to sink the Cheonan.
The North denies involvement and has responded to the reprisals with threats of war, fuelling regional tensions.
In Pyongyang on Sunday, some 100,000 North Koreans held a rally accusing Seoul of heightening cross-border tensions over the sinking, according to the North's state broadcasting network monitored by Yonhap news agency.
The rally was led by slogans denouncing President Lee as a traitor, it said.
Wen, whose country is the North's economic lifeline, has been cautious since arriving in South Korea Friday.