Russia, China worried about rising tensions over North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping expressed concern about rising tensions on the Korean peninsula after a North Korean missile test on Sunday, Putin’s spokesman said.

Meeting on the sidelines of an international forum in Beijing, Putin and Xi “discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula in detail” and “both parties expressed their concern over the escalation of tensions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

According to China’s official Xinhua news agency, Xi said during the meeting that Moscow and Beijing have played the role of a “ballast stone” in safeguarding regional and global peace and stability.

Xinhua did not publish other remarks.

Putin and Xi met after the opening ceremony of a summit on the Chinese president’s One Belt, One Road initative — a massive global trade infrastructure project to connect China to Asian neighbours, Europe and Africa.