China says North Korea tension has to be stopped from reaching "irreversible" stage

China said on Friday tension over North Korea had to be stopped from reaching an "irreversible and unmanageable stage" as a US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region amid fears the North may conduct a sixth nuclear weapons test.

Concern has grown since the US Navy fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield last week in response to a deadly gas attack, raising questions about US President Donald Trump's plans for North Korea, which has conducted missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN and unilateral sanctions.

The United States has warned that a policy of "strategic patience" is over. US Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia. China, North Korea's sole major ally and neighbour which nevertheless opposes its weapons programme, has called for talks leading to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.