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China says "Cold War thinking" is behind a meeting of U.S. allies on how to deal with North Korea's nuclear threat, adding it risks splitting international opinion over the issue.

China was not invited to the gathering in Vancouver and foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Wednesday said excluding it and others involved in the matter would not be helpful to finding a resolution.

China is the North's main economic and diplomatic ally but has signed on to increasingly harsh United Nations sanctions against Kim Jong Un's regime.

China maintains that the U.N. Security Council and the long-stalled Beijing-hosted six-party talks involving North and South Korea, Russia, the U.S., Japan and China are the only legitimate multilateral venues in which to discuss the nuclear issue.