China has condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch and urged restraint to ensure regional stability, but the international community has called on Beijing to step up and do more to rein in its ally's nuclear programme.
The launch on Sunday of a surface-to-surface mid-range ballistic missile Pukguksong-2, which North Korean media said was "guided by leader Kim Jong-un", is the first since the US election and is seen as a provocative act carefully aimed at US president Donald Trump.
The launch is a plea for attention by Kim Jong-un's government in Pyongyang, after Mr Trump has made highly public efforts to encourage closer relations with regional power brokers China and Japan.
China’s response to each new development in Pyongyang’s nuclear programme is pretty much exactly the same, whether it be nuclear weapons tests or missile launches.
"We will take a constructive and responsible part in the relevant discussion," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing on Monday. "Every party should exercise restraint and jointly safeguard the regional peace and stability."
The rocket, which flew 500km (310 miles) into what Korea calls the East Sea, known in Japan as Sea of Japan, has angered the international community. The United Nations was due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday night in New York to discuss the launch.
The UN has already imposed sanctions on North Korea for previous nuclear tests and Pyongyang is banned from developing ballistic missile technology.
The launch came as Mr Trump was meeting Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe in Florida. The US president, who has previously tweeted aggressively after North Korean missile tests, took a calmer approach this time, saying that the US stands by Japan "100 per cent".
The United States is planning to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile system in South Korea. Seoul and Washington insist it is to counteract the nuclear threat from North Korea, but China and Russia consider it a strategic deployment that can also operate against their nuclear arsenals.
Meaningful ally
China is North Korea’s only meaningful ally, having fought alongside its ideological counterpart in the 1950-1953 Korean War, and only significant trading partner as Chinese oil and food helps keep the impoverished Stalinist nation afloat.
Mr Trump’s response has undoubtedly been moderated since he had a conciliatory phone call with China’s president Xi Jinping last week.
For its part, Japan is clearly feeling more confident after the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Abe and it called on China to do more to rein in Pyongyang.
"We believe the role of China, that is the permanent member of United Nations Security Council and the chairman of the Six Party Talks, and holds 90 per cent of North Korea's trade, is extremely significant," said Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga.
“As the government, we’ll continue to push China for constructive involvement at various levels.”
One of Mr Trump’s election promises was to stop North Korea from developing missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to targets in continental United States.
Despite UN sanctions, North Korea fired at least 25 projectiles and detonated two nuclear devices in 2016.
China’s nationalistic Global Times newspaper said in an editorial that for Seoul, Washington and Tokyo to pile pressure on Pyongyang was not the way forward.
“The reality is that they are treating a secondary issue and not the root cause. If this continues, they will be lost in the maze of North Korea’s nuclear issue,” it said.
"If Trump is really interested in easing the crisis, it is hoped that he can actually do something about this conundrum's underlying reasons," the paper, whose views are said to reflect those of the ruling Communist Party, said in the commentary.