On July 23, 2009, China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told reporters in Phuket, southern Thailand, that about the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, China will continue to do its utmost for the restart of the six-party talks and an earlier resumption of the six-party talks will do good to all sides.

Yang said the UN Security Council's resolutions on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue should continue to be implemented and all sides should work hard to avoid escalation of tension. China is working very hard for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and it is totally against nuclear proliferation, Yang said.

China is working for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the Northeast Asia, Yang said. He believed that the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula should be solved by peaceful means through diplomatic negotiation.

Currently all the parties concerned have maintained close contact, said Yang. "At the meetings I attended yesterday, many participants stressed the importance of continuing to have the six-party talks. They believe that this is the effective platform on which we can proceed to properly solve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula," he said.

"Although the six-party talks have encountered some problems, we must see the progress that had been made earlier," said Yang. "So we should take a long-term and strategic point of view, and work for the earlier resumption of the six-party talks," he said.

"China will continue to stay in close touch with all the parties concerned, because this is a good and very important cause," Yang said.

Yang arrived in Phuket on July 21 to attend the ASEAN Ministerial Meetings.