China Appeals For Calm Amid Fears Of War Over US Escalation In
Korea  Chinese officials appealed for calm in the Korean
peninsula yesterday, as the United States deployed missiles and
further military forces to East Asia amid a standoff over North
Korea’s nuclear program.  Chinese foreign ministry spokesman
Hong Lei said that Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui
had expressed “serious concern” over the Korean crisis, in
meetings with the US and South Korean ambassadors.  Hong added,
“In the present situation, China believes all sides must remain
calm and exercise restraint and not take actions which are
mutually provocative, and must certainly not take actions which
will worsen the situation.”  Tensions continued to rise,
however, amid fears of a border clash in Korea that could
trigger a wider war. Washington continued to deploy overwhelming
firepower to the region and pressed China—the key ally of North
Korea, a small and impoverished state that depends on it for
critical food and fuel supplies—to wh