Stay calm, China urges US and North Korea

The Chinese government is urging the United States and North Korea to act cautiously as tensions escalate between the two countries over a recent cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

“(All sides) should work together to safeguard peace and stability on the peninsula,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying during a Monday press conference, according to state news agency Xinhua.

{mosads}President Obama on Friday imposed a new slate of economic sanctions intended to deny Pyongyang access to resources and arms, the administration’s first official move in retaliation for the assault on Sony. The move drew a fiery response from the East Asian regime, which denies involvement in the hack.

China has been drawn into the cross-fire between the two countries because North Korea’s Internet is almost exclusively routed through the Asian power. As a result, the U.S. has reached out to Beijing to ask for help in stifling future North Korean cyberattacks.

Chinese officials are conducting their own investigation into the hit on Sony. During Monday’s press conference, Hua said China had worked hard to achieve a “relatively stable” relationship with North Korea.

U.S. lawmakers have blamed Beijing for allowing Pyongyang to train elite hackers on its own turf. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the Chinese might have been involved in the assault on Sony, which exposed troves of the company’s internal documents and caused the movie studio to temporarily pause the release of a multi-million dollar comedy.

Chinese officials have said they oppose the use of Chinese infrastructure to launch cyberattacks, which some cyber experts interpreted as a word of caution to Pyongyang.  

Still, most aren’t expecting Beijing to aid the U.S. in its retaliatory efforts.

“I don’t think it’s very likely in this case,” Adam Segal, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told reporters recently. “The Chinese are not particularly eager to be working with the U.S. on this issue.”