China 'highly concerned' over US Soleimani strike

China said Friday it is "highly concerned" about the United States airstrike in Iraq that killed Iran's top general Qassem Soleimani.

"We urge the relevant sides, especially the United States, to remain calm and exercise restraint to avoid further escalating tensions," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a news conference in Beijing.

Geng again called for the US  and North Korea to resume dialogue and exercise "positive interaction," after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed a new, tougher approach toward the US at the end of a four-day meeting of the ruling Workers' Party.

"We hope the two sides can meet each other halfway and make practical efforts to break the deadlock and made new progress in the political process of the peninsular issue," Geng said.