BEIJING, Jan. 20 -- China on Tuesday said it welcomed the dialogue between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States on Monday in Singapore, calling for an early resumption of the six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Launched in 2003, the six-party talks involves China, the DPRK, the United States, the ROK, Japan and Russia.

China supports the DPRK and the United States in bettering bilateral ties, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a daily press briefing.

"We welcome increased mutual understanding and trust through dialogue and contact, which jointly work for the stability of the Korean Peninsula and forge ahead the process of the denuclearization," said Hua.

China hopes relevant dialogue and contacts will create conditions for the early resumption of the six-party talks, she added.

DPRK's chief nuclear negotiator Ri Yong Ho held an unofficial meeting with former U.S. senior officials and experts including former U.S. special representative for DPRK policy Stephen Bosworth on the current situation on the Korean Peninsula Monday in Singapore.

The closed-door meeting came after the United States rejected the proposal by the DPRK that it stands ready to suspend its nuclear tests if the United States suspends its annual joint military exercises with the Republic of Korea (ROK).

The United States has obviously downplayed the importance of the meeting, with its embassy in Singapore saying that the U.S. government was not involved.

The six-party talks had been bogged down since Pyongyang pulled out in April 2009 in response to a UN Security Council presidential statement condemning its rocket launch. Amid rounds of crippling sanctions and repeated U.S.-South Korea joint military drills, the DPRK has so far conducted three nuclear tests.