China said on Sunday that the reaction of the UN Security Council to the Pyongyang rocket launch should be "cautious and proportionate."

The Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Zhang Yesui, made the statement to the press at the end of a closed-door meeting of the Security Council.

The 15-nation Council on Sunday afternoon held an emergency session on the rocket launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) at the request of Japan.

"The reaction of the Security Council should be cautious and proportionate," Zhang said.

"It served the common interests of the international community to continue to promote the Six-Party Talks, achieve denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and maintain peace and stability on the Peninsula and in Northeast Asia," he said.

"My delegation would be most willing and ready to join other colleagues to participate and discuss whatever reaction from the Council in a most constructive and responsible manner," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2009)