China ‘will not protect those who sank South Korean warship’

CHINA will not protect those who sank a South Korean warship, Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday, as he came under pressure in Seoul to join an international push to punish North Korea.

Japan slapped new sanctions on the North over the March 26 sinking, which international investigators say was caused by a North Korean torpedo.

Regional tensions have risen sharply since they announced the findings of their investigation last week, with South Korea announcing reprisals that have sparked threats of war from the North.

Wen made the comments at a meeting with South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak, according to Lee’s spokesman.

“The Chinese government will review the results of international probes closely and consider reactions from countries concerned seriously,” Wen was quoted as saying.

“It will then take its position on this issue in an objective and fair manner. According to the investigation results, China will not protect anyone.”

China “rejects any acts that harm peace and stability” on the peninsula, Wen reportedly said. “We hope the South Korean government handles this issue appropriately and we will closely consult with it.”

South Korea and Japan are seeking China’s support to sanction — or at least, to censure — North Korea in the United Nations Security Council.

China is the North’s sole major ally and economic lifeline and a veto-wielding council member.

Unlike many countries, it has not publicly blamed Pyongyang for the sinking, one of the worst military attacks on the South since the 1950-53 war.

South Korea “is now making all-out diplomatic efforts to hold the North accountable”, a presidential spokesman said before yesterday’s meeting.

Seoul will press its case again at a trilateral summit this weekend on the southern island of Jeju also involving Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama.

US president Barack Obama and Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama will support any South Korean request for UN Security Council action against North Korea, the White House said yesterday.

In a phone call on Thursday evening, “the two leaders condemned the North Korean torpedo attack on the ROKS Cheonan,” a South Korean ship, the White House said in a statement yesterday.

The leaders “pledged to co-operate closely with the Republic of Korea, including in support of appropriate action by the UN Security Council,” the statement said.

The Japanese parliament also passed a law authorising its coastguard to inspect ships suspected of carrying North Korean nuclear and weapons-related cargo on the high seas.

South Korea’s reprisals include a trade cut-off and the resumption of cross-border propaganda broadcasts.

The North, which denies involvement, has threatened to shell the loudspeakers now being installed along the tense frontier if the broadcasts go ahead.

The North has cut all ties with the South, scrapped pacts aimed at averting accidental flare-ups along their disputed sea border, and vowed to attack any intruding ships.

It has threatened to shut down a jointly-run industrial park at Kaesong, the last reconciliation project still operating.

Investigators said parts of a torpedo salvaged from the seabed exactly match a model that the North had offered for export.

Pyongyang poured scorn on the probe’s findings in a 1,700-word article on the official news agency by an unidentified military commentator.

“As the facts show, the ‘crucial pieces of evidence’ produced by the south Korean regime, a master of fabrication and concoction, are nothing but faked things from A to Z, inviting serious doubts,” it said.