China not to defend Provocations by N. Korea

China has told South Korea that it will no longer take the side of North Korea if Pyongyang makes further provocations after tensions spiked over the North's two deadly attacks on the South last year S. Korean President Lee Myung Bak told a group of South Korean lawmakers. "China delivered its intentions (to South Korea) that it won't stand by the North if it makes an additional provocation," Yonhap News Agency quoted Friday a lawmaker as saying. China is the North's traditional ally and has provided the North with food and energy assistance and diplomatic support. North Korea sank a South Korean warship with a torpedo attack and also launched an artillery attack on a border island. The North has denied its involvement in the ship sinking and claimed the South had provoked the shelling first.