Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Tuesday that China maintains that the Korean Peninsula should be nuclear-free, and meanwhile the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s security concern should also be solved.

Wang, head of the Chinese delegation to the six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue, due to begin Wednesday, made the remark in an interview with Chinese mainstream media.

He noted that only through dialogue and talks can the peninsula's peace and stability be safeguarded.

The Korean Peninsula and China are connected by mountains and rivers, and whether its stability can be maintained concerns the fundamental interests of the north and the south, and directly affects the peaceful environment surrounding China, and affects peace and tranquility of the northeastern Asia and the Asia-Pacific region at large, Wang said.

Consequently, Wang noted, China has always taken safeguarding peace and stability of the peninsula as the starting point for tackling the peninsula issue, and so does it on the nuclear issue.

Wang said that last October when the Korean nuclear tension intensified again, then Chinese President Jiang Zemin, while meeting with US President George W. Bush at the Crawford Ranch, Texas, clearly stated China's stance of peacefully resolving the issue.

He added that the stance represents China's consistent position, serves the fundamental interests of all parties, and has been welcomed by the international community and become the common consensus for resolving the issue at present.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2003)