Beijing: Expounding China's stance on the tense situation in Korean peninsula, President Jiang Zemin has called for resumption of "sincere and substantial" dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang to resolve their diplomatic stand off over North Korean nuclear issue, as he discussed the matter with his US counterpart George W Bush.

Jiang said China approves the US intention of addressing related matters peacefully through talks, but stressed that sincerity from both sides rather than the form of dialogue was the key to resolving the North Korea-US row.

"The form of dialogue is not the most important, the key is that whether both sides have sincerity, whether dialogue has substantial content and result, whether it is favourable to the denuclearisation in the peninsula, to solving matters, which the United States and North Korea care about and to safeguarding the peace and stability of the peninsula," Jiang told Bush during a telephone conversation on March 10 night.

Bush said the US attaches importance to China's stand on the nuclear issue and is ready to achieve denuclearisation in the Korean peninsula through multilateral efforts, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

While the US insists that the North Korean nuclear issue must be resolved through multilateral efforts, Pyongyang says it intends to talk only with Washington.

China, the closest ally of North Korea, supports Pyongyang on the question of bilateral US-North Korea talks. At the same time, Beijing is not averse to taking part in multilateral talks in order to address the North Korean nuclear issue.

Jiang, in an apparent reference to the recent military manoeuvres of the United States and North Korea, said China hopes that various sides should keep calm and avoid actions that may make the situation tenser in the Korean peninsula.

Last week, four North Korean fighter jets tailed a US reconnaissance plane in international space. Following this, Washington moved several strategic bombers to an American military base in Guam in order to deter Pyongyang from carrying out similar military moves.

PTI