China calls on U.S., North Korea to engage in dialogue “sooner rather than later’’

China supports the recent thaw in the Korean conflict and calls on the U.S. and North Korea to engage in dialogue “sooner rather than later,’’ Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said on Thursday.

“The Korean Peninsula issue has finally taken an important step in the right direction,’’ Yi told journalists on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress, China’s annual parliamentary session.

On Tuesday, the South Korean Government announced President Moon Jae In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were set to hold a summit in April – only the third time in history that the countries’ leaders would have met.

The easing in the Korean Peninsula conflict shows that China’s “suspension-for-suspension” plan has worked, Yi said.

China had been proposing that U.S. and South Korea should stop their war games directed at the North in exchange for Pyongyang suspending its nuclear and missile programmes.

China “fully commends and supports’’ the steps taken by the two countries and urges the U.S. and North Korea, “to engage in dialogue sooner rather than later’’ and move to set up a peace-establishing mechanism, Yi said.

The diplomatic process “will be clouded by various interferences,’’ Yi said.

“All must demonstrate political courage and make political decision. China will continue to make efforts for this outcome,’’ Yi said.