SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – China told South Korea on Friday that it will not defend whoever it determines was responsible for the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors, the South Korean government said.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made the comments after meeting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak amid tensions on the Korean peninsula following the March 26 torpedo attack near the disputed North-South sea border.
South Korea, the United States and Japan have condemned North Korea after a multinational investigation blamed Pyongyang for the attack. China, however, took a cautious position.
China will decide its stance after considering international probes and the reactions of all countries, Wen told Lee, according to a briefing by presidential adviser Lee Dong-kwan. ""China will defend no one"" whatever the outcome, Wen said, according to Lee.
China's backing would be key to any bid to condemn or sanction North Korea. Beijing, a veto-wielding permanent U.N. Security Council member, so far has refrained from committing to council action against Pyongyang, its neighbor and traditional ally.
Wen's comments could not be independently confirmed. China's official Xinhua News Agency made no mention of a pledge not to defend those responsible in its report on the meeting.
However, Xinhua did quote Wen as saying China would make a judgment on the cause of the incident in an ""objective and fair manner"" and ""take its stance on the basis of facts concerning the sinking of a South Korean warship.""
Wen and Lee met at the Blue House a day before a three-way summit that will also include Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Lee's spokesman Park Sun-kyu said in a statement that South Korea was ""fully concentrating on diplomatic efforts to hold North Korea responsible."" He said the matter would be discussed Friday, at the weekend summit and at a security meeting in Singapore in early June.
Tensions have soared since Lee laid out a series of punitive measures and pledged to haul Pyongyang before the U.N. Security Council. The steps include slashing trade with Pyongyang, resuming anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts across the border and launching large-scale naval exercises off the western coast. U.S.-South Korean military drills are to follow in the coming months.
Separately, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov said that Moscow wants to know with full certitude who is responsible before making further decisions. He said a group of Russian experts was heading to Seoul to study the relevant information.
Meanwhile, North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission accused South Korea on Friday of faking the sinking of a warship for which Pyongyang has been blamed and warned that the Korean peninsula was heading to ""the brink of war.""
The comments were similar to other recent pronouncements but were made at a news conference, which is an extremely rare occurrence for the commission, the most powerful organ in the North and which is chaired by leader Kim Jong Il.
""The South Korean puppet regime's faked sinking of the Cheonan has created a very serious situation on the Korean peninsula, pushing it towards the brink of war,"" Maj. Gen. Pak Rim Su, director of the department of policy at the National Defense Commission, told a news conference in Pyongyang, according to broadcaster APTN.

Photo: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao waves upon his arrival at the Seoul Military Airport in Seongnam, South Korea, Friday, May 28, 2010. (Photo: AP/Anhn Young-joon)