China says sinking of South Korean ship "unfortunate"

BEIJING May 20 (Reuters) - The sinking of a South Korean ship that Seoul blames on North Korea was "unfortunate", Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said on Thursday, urging maintaining security on the Korean peninsula.

He would not comment on a South Korean report, which blames the North for the attack.

China is North Korea's only major political and economic backer. It irked South Korea earlier this month by hosting the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on a rare trip abroad, despite the deadly sinking of the Cheonan off the Korean peninsula's west coast. (Reporting by Chris Buckley and Wang Lan; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Ken Wills)