Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo reportedly told a high-level U.S. delegation visiting China that the six-party denuclearization talks are the only way to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that Dai also told the U.S. delegation, led by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, that the 2005 Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks should be faithfully implemented.

Dai said China will continue to look for constructive ways to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula and that the priority should be on easing tensions in the region.

He reportedly made no mention of North Korea’s uranium enrichment program or the North’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island last month.

The U.S. delegation is said to have asked China to play a responsible role in responding to the North’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong.