Beijing: China is carrying out "routine" military drills on its border with North Korea to maintain combat readiness, China's Ministry of Defence says.
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The statement was issued after reports from the United States that Chinese bombers were on high alert with "unusual levels" of activity.
There are renewed fears that North Korea could conduct a nuclear test on April 25, the 85th anniversary of the founding of its military. Last week the Chinese Ministry of Defence denied reports that it would mobilise 150,000 troops to the border, including medical teams, in preparation for any nuclear test by North Korea.
People's Daily, the Chinese government's official mouthpiece newspaper, said on Friday evening that reports that Chinese bombers were on high alert had been denied by the ministry of defence. But it also reported the Ministry of Defence had said it was carrying out a military drill on the border, timed with concern North Korea was preparing for its sixth nuclear test.
"Chinese military is maintaining regular combat readiness and carrying out routine training drills at the China-DPRK border," People's Daily reported online.
"The DPRK is reportedly making preparations for its 6th nuclear test, despite oppositions from the international community, which raised the tension of the Korean Peninsula to a dangerous level."
On Wednesday, China's Foreign Ministry said it was "gravely concerned" by comments from North Korea's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Kim In-ryong, that North Korea would continue its missile tests on a weekly and monthly basis.
The US State Department has said the US will send its North Korea policy envoy to Tokyo on April 25 to meet with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.Three days later, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will chair a special meeting of the UN Security Council to focus on North Korea's nuclear program.
The United States is urging China to agree to a tough new round of economic sanctions against North Korea that it believes could force North Korea to negotiate to give up its nuclear program.
Chinese media has speculated this may include China cutting off crude oil supplies to North Korea.
The White House last week said it was looking for any "tangible signal" from North Korea that it was serious about negotiations, but that firing a missile, as it did last Sunday, was the opposite response.
North Korean media has kept up its fiery rhetoric and threats of a preemptive strike against the United States throughout the week.
