China opposes Vancouver meeting on Korean Peninsula issue

China on Tuesday again voiced opposition to a gathering in Vancouver of foreign ministers from 20 countries on security and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang [Photo: fmprc.gov.cn]

Canada and the United States will co-host the meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, will discuss measures to exert maximum diplomatic as well as economic pressures on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to force it to end its nuclear and missile programs.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland (right)and South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha meet in Vancouver, British Columbia, Monday, Jan. 15, 2018. [Photo: IC]

"Since this meeting does not have legitimacy or representativeness, China has opposed the meeting from the very beginning," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a routine press briefing. "While countries are committed to finding a proper solution for the peaceful settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, some parties hold such a meeting in the name of the so-called United Nations command during the Cold War era. We do not know what the purpose of convening such a meeting is."

He said that without participation of some of the most important direct parties to the nuclear issue, the Vancouver meeting had no legitimacy and was not representative.

The meeting, in which China's foreign minister will not participate, comes as the DPRK and the ROK have resumed talks after Pyongyang decided to join the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next month.