No matter which way we see them, Pyongyang has more than enough reason to protest against and respond to the Washington-ROK joint war games. After all, such flexing of muscles can never be seen as a display of good will.

The sheer dimension of the drills is a matter of concern for Pyongyang. The Key Resolve is largely a computer-simulated weeklong exercise and the Foal Eagle is a field-training exercise from March 2 to April 24 in which about 200,000 ROK troops and 3,700 American military personnel, including 3,500 US forces from overseas, scheduled to take part.

The presence of such a large number of troops near the DPRK is not at all conducive to restoring permanent peace on the Peninsula and building a stable security environment in the region. Rhetoric and muscle flexing, let alone warmongering, can only worsen the situation on the Peninsula.

As Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said, it is in the common interests of all relevant parties to maintain peace and stability and achieve denuclearization on the Peninsula. "The situation" on the Peninsula "has entered another delicate period," Wang said at a press conference on Sunday on the sidelines of the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee.

More importantly, Wang urged relevant countries to exercise utmost restraint so as to continue fostering an atmosphere of cooperation and resume the Six-Party Talks. Since even the smallest miscalculation could incur too heavy a cost, flexibility and resilience should be the order of the day.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. [email protected]