China ready to cooperate with Russia to ease Middle East tension, foreign minister says

BEIJING, April 5 (Reuters) - China is willing to continue to cooperate with Russia at the U.N. Security Council and make efforts to cool down the Middle East situation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call, state agency Xinhua reported Sunday.

Wang said the fundamental way to resolve navigation issues in the Strait of Hormuz is to achieve a ceasefire as soon as possible, adding that China has always advocated political settlement of hotspot issues through dialogue and negotiation.

The foreign ministers' call came ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote next week on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

(Reporting by Shi Bu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Hugh Lawson)