China hopes all parties could make more efforts to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Tuesday.

Responding to a question about reports that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was planning the imminent test-firing of long-range missiles, Ma said China had noted the matter, without confirming whether the DPRK would test fire missiles or giving further information.

The official KCNA news agency of the DPRK on Tuesday cited a space department spokesman as saying that the DPRK would stage a test launch of a communication satellite.

News organizations in the United States and the Republic of Korea have reported the DPRK was planning to test-fire a "Taepodong-2" ballistic missile with a maximum estimated range of 6,700 km.

Ma said he wanted to reiterate that safeguarding peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula was in the common interests of all parties.

He said China hoped all parties could make more efforts conducive to peace and stability of the peninsula and the region.

Ma also responded to a question on whether the missile test would influence the six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue, involving the DPRK, the ROK, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

Ma said the talks were moving forward with the joint efforts of all parties. "We hope the parties can continue to make concerted efforts to push forward the process of the six-party talks."

He made the remarks during his first regular press conference as Foreign Ministry spokesman since becoming head of the ministry's information department.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2009)