China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, says he has advised North Korea to calmly assess the United Nations' latest resolution and not carry out nuclear tests and stoke tensions further.
His remarks come after the UN Security Council unanimously imposed the new sanctions on North Korea over its two intercontinental-ballistic-missile tests in July.
The sanctions, approved over the weekend, could cut North Korea's $3 billion annual export revenue by one-third.
Wang Yi has described bilateral talks with his counterpart from North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as "very thorough."
He says diplomatic and peaceful means are now necessary to avoid tensions and an escalation of the crisis.
"China urged the DPRK to remain calm in the face of the new UN Security Council resolution concerning the DPRK and not to carry out missile tests, or even nuclear tests, in violation of the Security Council resolution and the will of the international community. Of course, we will also urge other parties concerned, especially the United States and South Korea, not to escalate tensions. We believe the situation on the Korean Peninsula has now come to a critical point of crisis, as well as a turning point, to make a decision to resume peace talks."
Mr Wang has also held an hour-long meeting with his South Korean counterpart.
Afterwards, he questioned why South Korea would accelerate the United States' deployment of the THAAD anti-missile defence system in its country.
"I spoke with Foreign Minister Kang about a series of issues. For instance, one question I asked was, why, when North Korea announced that it has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, does South Korea accelerate the deployment of the THAAD missile system? Will THAAD be able to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles? I think it's quite clear to everyone this is impossible."
Australia's foreign minister, Julie Bishop, also in Manila for the talks, says the Federal Government is taking immediate steps to implement the new sanctions against North Korea.
They include financial sanctions and travel bans on several additional individuals and entities.
Ms Bishop says the region is facing a number of threats.
"North Korea's development of weapons of mass destruction in contravention of UN Security Council resolutions is a direct threat to us all. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea are destabilising and are increasing tensions between nations. The threat of terrorism and violent extremism transcends national boundaries, directly threatening regional security, as we're seeing in Marawi."
There were other issues on the agenda, too, including a communique calling for militarisation in the South China Sea to be avoided and noting concern about island-building.
A plan for a single-visa system among ASEAN countries, in the same way Europe's unified visa system has streamlined travel, was also discussed.
The idea would be to open the region to more foreign tourists and further promote economic growth.
Then, wearing traditional Filipino costume, foreign ministers broke from formal talks for a gala dinner.
The host country's foreign minister, Alan Cayetano, praised ASEAN's unity.
"We have come a long way since we began our journey in the last 50 years. ASEAN has facilitated our region's transformation from a troubled neighbourhood into a caring and sharing community. Despite the inherent differences in our cultures, our political systems, our ideologies, we have managed to avoid major conflicts."
