China’s Xi urges restraint on N. Korea in call to Duterte

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (left) meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. (File pool photo NG HAN GUAN via AP)

Chinese President Xi Jinping has discussed North Korea during a phone call with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who referred to Beijing’s important role in promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted Xi as urging all parties to exercise restraint and return to dialogue and negotiations in realizing a denuclearized peninsula.

Undersecretary Ernesto Abella, presidential spokesman, said Thursday the two leaders exchanged views about regional developments, and Duterte shared the Philippines’ desire for peace and stability.

Abella says Duterte “referred to China’s important role in promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula” during Wednesday’s call, and his words were likely to encourage China to broker peace in the region.

The US has been pressuring China to do more to stop Pyongyang from further missile and nuclear tests.