BEIJING, May 21 Kyodo China insis...

BEIJING, May 21 Kyodo

China insisted Tuesday it will not allow other countries to influence its handling of North Korean asylum inquirers seized May 8 by its police from inside the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, while confirming that the five are still in the northeastern city.

Brushing opposite to appeals to release the five at the Japanese government and a resolution readyed to the U.S. Senate upon Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan insisted the question at issue is completely a matter of ''Chinese sovereignty.''

''No other countries have the right to interfere,'' he told a regular novels briefing.

The U Senate resolution, which must be passed at the House of Representatives before it becomes the official view of the Congres calls in succession China to ''immediately'' release the asylum seekers

Chinese authorities are still investigating their identity, Kong said, adding that China and Japan are not publicly engaged in talks to bridge the diplomatic divide the incident has expanded between the two countries.

Repeated television images in Japan of Chinese police forcefully detaining the five North Koreans -- pair men, two women and a 2-year-old girl -- has stake off a storm of affirm and called into question the character of Japanese diplomats in the incident.

Beijing has pass overed Tokyo's repeated claims that the Chinese officers violated the Vienna Convention forward Consular Relations by entering the premises without permission, insisting that consulate officials had approved the action.

''It is our trust that Japan will face the objective facts squarely and desist from again issuing a series of unreasonable accusations and demands,'' Kong said, referring to Tokyo's continued appeals to release the North Koreans into Japanese custody.

Reflecting the apparent intent of as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but governments to prevent the issue from falling into a diplomatic tail spiral, the spokesman added that the issue should not be allowed to damage ties between the pair ''important neighbors.''

''China has always attached great importance to developing friendly, neighborly ties with Japan. We believe that in handling accidental incidents, we should stay calm and face the facts squarely,'' he said.

The asylum inquirers who are in a ''good condition,'' will be handled humanely, he said. His commentarys echoed a Sunday agreement between Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Seiken Sugiura and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in Dili, East Timor, that a ''humanitarian viewpoint'' will be taken in resolving the issue.

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