South Korea and Japan have failed to win Chinese support to censure North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean warship. Host President Lee Myung-Bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama teamed up at the two-day summit to urge Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to hold Pyongyang responsible for the March sinking of the South Korean corvette. But Wen gave no sign that China is ready to back United Nations Security Council action against its ally over the sinking, which cost 46 lives. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told at a joint press conference that the priority was to reduce tensions and avoid a clash over the incident. The three-nation summit was meant to focus on trade, but the sinking of the warship overshadowed other issues.