By Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

Beijing opposes the United Nations unilateral sanction against Pyongyang, and instead wants dialogue and negotiations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday.

“We oppose actions to impose sanctions on another sovereign state by citing domestic law. That is no basis in international laws,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency.

Wang, who is in the Philippines for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting, met Sunday with his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho in Manila and urged onPyongyang to cease missile tests that would only escalate tensions, and instead return to negotiations as the “correct way out to address the Korean peninsula issue.

“It’s not that easy but it is a direction that we need to work together towards,” Wang added.

Wang also urged the U.S. and South Korea to avoid actions that would only provoke North Korea.

Following that country's recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles July 4 and 28, the United Nations on Saturday imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang with a sweeping ban on exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood that could eliminate $1 billion in annual revenues.

The foreign ministers of the ASEAN 10-member states released a joint statement Saturday urgin North Korea’s “exercise of self-restraint” and denuclearization.