US, China must find way forward on North Korea, South China Sea: John Kerry

BEIJING: The United States and China must find a way forward on the North Korea nuclear issue and the situation in the South China Sea, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday during a meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Kerry, on a two-day visit to Beijing, had promised to press China to push for more curbs on North Korea after it said it had successfully conducted a test of a miniaturised hydrogen nuclear device on Jan. 6.

Beijing, Pyongyang's lone major backer, has criticised similar remarks by State Department officials as irresponsible, saying it has made great efforts to achieve denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula.

Though the United States and China had made good progress on issues from climate change to counter-terrorism, "clearly we have several important issues that we need to find the way forward on," Kerry told Wang, according to a pool report on the meeting.

"One is the nuclear program of the DPRK, North Korea, a major challenge to global security, one of the most important issues for the security of the United States of America," Kerry said.

The 15-member UN Security Council said at the time of North Korea's test that it would begin working on significant new measures in response, a threat diplomats said could mean an expansion of sanctions.

Since then diplomats said Washington and Beijing have been primarily negotiating on a draft resolution, but when asked on Saturday if they were nearing agreement, US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said no.

Kerry also told Wang that the two countries had to make progress on "concerns and activities in the South China Sea".

China claims almost all the disputed waters in the potentially oil- and gas-rich South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

It has been building up facilities on islands it controls, angering the Philippines and Vietnam and drawing criticism from the United States, which has expressed deep concern that the construction will exacerbate tension in the region.

Kerry was in Cambodia on Tuesday after a visit to neighbouring Laos as part of an effort to urge unity among leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN), before a summit with President Barack Obama in Sunnylands, California, next month.

China insists any disputes should be handled bilaterally.