"China has a critical role to play" in tamping down skyrocketing tensions on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of what Washington has described as belligerent behavior by Pyongyang, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said.

After North Korea's deadly shelling of a South Korean island last month, President Barack Obama phoned his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao this week to encourage China to rein in its unpredictable ally Pyongyang.

Trilateral talks in Washington on Monday brought together the United States, Japan and South Korea -- but not China, even though the others said Beijing was key to pressuring the North.

"It appears to be the flavor of the week, if you were to read the newspapers... that somehow the US-Chinese relationship is experiencing a serious downturn or freeze, or whatever the expressions are," Steinberg said in a speech at the Center for American Progress.

"We believe in the interest of both the United States and China... to work together to achieve solutions to the world's most vexing problems."Steinberg said in a speech at the Center for American Progress.

The State Department later announced that Steinberg will lead a delegation to China December 14-17, where he will discuss "regional security issues, including recent developments on the Korean Peninsula."

North Korea shelled a South Korean border island on November 23, killing two marines and two civilians days after revealing a new uranium enrichment plant that sparked anger in Washington, Tokyo and Seoul.

China is North Korea's only major ally and the impoverished country's economic and political lifeline.

A Washington Post report Tuesday indicated a change of tack by the Obama administration in its approach to China, suggesting the White House was losing patience with Beijing.

But Steinberg stepped back from the tense talk about China and sought to put a less distressed face on the latest potentially dangerous developments involving North Korea.

"We welcome the rise of a successful, strong and prosperous China that plays a greater role in global affairs," he said, adding that tensions on the Korean Peninsula underscored the need for greater cooperation.

"We want to work with China to address this challenge," he stressed, and cited "important successes" in the past that have demonstrated the two powers were able to work effectively together.

He also blamed North Korea's current behavior, not China's actions or inaction, for greater strains currently in northeast Asia.

Steinberg said Pyongyang needed "a strong message of the necessity of the North Koreans to exercise restraint -- that's what is creating the instability and the fragility.

"There does not seem to be effective restraints on North Korea engaging in these provocations," he said. "And we have to take steps to make clear that the danger comes from this kind of provocative behavior."

John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a speech that "China has a fundamental responsibility to its neighbors and to the rest of the world... not to turn a blind eye to North Korea's provocations.

"No other country has as much influence over North Korea as China does. And it has to use that influence" to inform North Korea "its behavior is unacceptable," Kerry stressed.

Steinberg also reiterated the US position that any renewed talks with North Korea would need to be preceded by some "concrete steps" by Pyongyang.

"We need a clear indication from North Korea" that it is respecting its commitments," he said.

On the hot-button human rights issue, Steinberg stressed: "this is an important subject matter between our two countries."

"We hope that China will take positive steps on human rights including the release of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo," Steinberg said.

In Oslo, the Nobel Institute said that 19 countries will shun Friday's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo for the jailed Chinese dissident after Chinese pressure for a global boycott.

But in Beijing, China slammed the Nobel committee ahead of the prize ceremony, calling its members "clowns" and saying most of the world backed China.

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