Manila : Both sanctions against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes and resumption of the six-party talks are important and neither should be neglected, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday.

Wang made the statement here on the sidelines of a series of foreign ministers’ meetings, in response to a question regarding the new UN Security Council resolution over North Korea’s testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles in July, Xinhua news agency reported.

China, as a permanent member of the UNSC, upheld an impartial and objective position and played a responsible and constructive role in the process of the adoption of the resolution, he said.

According to Wang, there are two major components of the resolution — one is to make a necessary response to North Korea’s constant missile launch activities, which have violated UN resolutions, in a bid to check the Communist nation’s nuclear and missile development programmes.

The other is to call for the resumption of the six-party talks, stressing the peaceful settlement of the Korean peninsula nuclear issue by diplomatic and political means, to avoid escalation of tension in the peninsula.

Noting that sanctions are necessary but not the ultimate goal, the Minister said the measure aimed to bring parties concerned back to the negotiating table so as to seek a peaceful solution to North Korea’s nuclear issue and realise denuclearisation as well as lasting peace and stability on the peninsula.

—IANS