Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says his country is opposed to imposing unilateral sanctions on North Korea.

"With all sides focused on the authoritative channel of the [UN] Security Council, China opposes unilateral sanctions that are unhelpful to resolving the issue," Wang Yi said after Wednesday telephone talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, as quoted by The Daily Express newspaper on Thursday. The Chinese foreign minister also said that there has to be "a necessary response" to the situation on the Korean peninsula and that China was ready to cooperate on that issue with members of the UN Security Council (UNSC). On Wednesday, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said that the UNSC was going to work on another sanctions resolution against Pyongyang. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly ordered the government on Sunday to prepare a raft of unilateral sanctions against North Korea to restrain Pyongyang`s nuclear ambitions. Pyongyang confirmed on September 9 that it had carried out a nuclear test, at its northeastern nuclear test site. The nuclear experiment is believed to be the fifth and largest since Pyongyang started pursuing nuclear and ballistic missile programs, drawing condemnation from the international community. Pyongyang’s January nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch in February resulted in the tightening of sanctions against North Korea in a new UN Security Council resolution adopted in March. The United Nations previously imposed sanctions on North Korea for three tests it carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

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