US and China are engaged in high-level dialogue regarding North Korea sending troops to Russia as the Kremlin wages war on Ukraine, America's top diplomat said on Thursday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described "a robust conversation" with China taking place this week about Moscow and Pyongyang's military cooperation in the Ukraine war.

Blinken urged Beijing to "do more" to curb "provocative" actions being taken by two of its closest partners.

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"I think they know well the concerns that we have and the expectations that, both in word and deed, they'll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities. So we'll see if they take action," Blinken said of China after a meeting he and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin held with their South Korean counterparts in Washington.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul at the State Department in Washington on Thursday. 

His remarks came after a New York Times report on Thursday said his deputy, Kurt Campbell, and other State Department officials met Chinese diplomats "for several hours" in the residence of Xie Feng, Beijing's envoy to Washington, on Tuesday.

Asked about the meeting, the Chinese embassy in Washington told the Post that China and the US "have always maintained regular, routine and normal communication on China-US relations and international and regional issues".

"China's position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear. China strives for peace talks and political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. This position remains unchanged. China will continue to play a constructive role to this end," said spokesperson Liu Pengyu.

The Sino-American engagement came amid Washington and Kyiv's latest assessments that North Korean troops could see combat against Ukraine "in the coming days".

North Korean troops were reported last week to be in eastern Russia in a major escalation of the armed conflict that began in February 2022.

Blinken said at least 8,000 North Korean soldiers were now in Russia's Kursk region and receiving training in "artillery, UAVs, basic infantry operations, including trench clearing".

This activity, the envoy continued, indicated that Russians "fully intend to use these forces in frontline operations".

Blinken warned that once North Korean troops engage in combat against Ukraine they would become "legitimate" military targets. And the US would closely consult its allies on what "actions" to take in response, he added.

But the Chinese foreign ministry last week said it was unaware whether North Korea had deployed troops to Russia.

When asked about what role it would play if there were escalations in Ukraine and the Korean peninsula as a result of Pyongyang's troop deployment, Beijing called for all parties to de-escalate tensions.

The ministry stated that China was always committed to peace on the peninsula and a political solution to the Ukraine conflict.

Since last year, Russia and North Korea have moved to bolster their military ties, with Pyongyang reportedly sending tens of millions of munitions to support the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.

In exchange, Pyongyang has received Moscow's technological support for its tactical weapons.

China has largely refrained from commenting on Russia and North Korea's apparently growing closeness, saying it is an internal matter for the two countries.

Some analysts see their unprecedented level of direct military cooperation as putting Beijing in an awkward position.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toast during a reception in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024. 

Aside from the stigma of being grouped with Russia and North Korea, China's ties with the West have frayed over its alleged support of dual-use goods to the Kremlin.

Duyeon Kim of the Centre for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank, said Beijing did not want regional tensions to escalate such that Moscow and Pyongyang's actions could trigger a response by the US.

"I do not expect China to overtly make some sort of public announcement or ... pressure North Korea and Russia publicly, although I would suspect it might do some of this pressuring quietly, discreetly, especially considering its strategic competition with the United States, its relationship with Russia," Kim said last week.

South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Thursday said Seoul believed Beijing could "intervene" if the two countries' military cooperation deepened.

"I think a more clear assessment is China is watching and waiting and if the situation worsens ... China either as a mediator or in any other role may be intervening," he said.

Austin urged China to ask Russia "some hard questions" as to whether it sought to escalate the Ukraine conflict when Beijing has professed it is "serious about its desire for de-escalation".

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko discussed the Ukraine conflict in Beijing.

The two countries reaffirmed their ties, calling them "not subject to interference", a week after President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin delivered the same message during the Brics summit in Kazan.

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