BEIJING: Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday urged all parties to take due responsibilities and make efforts toward peace on the Ukraine issue, instead of just escalating tensions, creating panic and even playing up war threats.

Wang made the remarks when answering questions on the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), European security and the situation in Ukraine at the 58th Munich Security Conference via video link. In terms of the expansion of NATO, Wang said European friends should seriously ponder whether continuous NATO eastward expansion would be conducive to maintaining and achieving lasting peace and stability in Europe. On the Ukraine issue, it is time to return to the original point of the Minsk-2 agreement as soon as possible, since this agreement is a binding one reached through negotiations among all parties concerned and has been approved by the UN Security Council, and it is the only way out for solving the Ukraine issue, he said.