Geng Shuang (L, Front), China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks at a UN Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, on March 14, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

As the situation on the Korean Peninsula is becoming more sensitive and complex with an unstable and uncertain future trajectory, the international community should work together to promote the political settlement process of the Peninsula issue, a Chinese UN envoy said at the UN Security Council.

"Maintaining peace and stability and preventing war and chaos on the Peninsula serve the common interests of all parties and are in line with the common expectation of the international community," Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said on Wednesday at a UN Security Council meeting.

He urged all parties to remain calm and exercise restraint, and refrain from any words or deeds that may intensify conflicts and tensions.

Stressing the importance of creating an atmosphere conducive to dialogue, Geng called on the relevant parties to be rational and pragmatic, resume contact as soon as possible to build mutual trust and restart dialogue, and work together to break the current deadlock.

"A certain country should abandon the myth of sanctions and pressure, take tangible measures to truly show goodwill and sincerity for dialogue," he added.

As a vestige of the Cold War, Geng said, the Korean Peninsula issue is rooted in the long existing failure to achieve the transition from armistice to a peace mechanism, and the severe lack of trust between the parties, especially between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The envoy said that the dual track approach and the principle of phased and synchronized steps proposed by China are effective ways to promote the political settlement process.

He called for the relevant country to abandon the Cold War mentality, and stop the erroneous acts of using the Peninsula issue to promote its geopolitical strategy and provoke bloc confrontations. "Otherwise, the political settlement of the Peninsula issue will be difficult to advance smoothly."

Noting that some council members linked the current European security with the Peninsula situation, Geng emphasized that the issue of Ukraine and the Peninsula issue are completely different in terms of origin and nature. "Linking the two will only make both issues more complicated and difficult to resolve," he added.

"Using the worry about the intertwining of the security in Europe and that in the Asia Pacific and their resonance as a pretext to push NATO to cross its boundary and extend its power to get involved in the Asian Pacific will only further intensify regional antagonism and exacerbate confrontations. China firmly opposes this approach," the ambassador said.

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