BEIJING, Feb. 18 -- China condemned the killing of 23 security men in Pakistan by the Taliban while peace talks go on there, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

"China has always supported the Pakistan government and people's efforts to safeguard national stability, to set and implement its security strategy in line with its own national conditions," Hua said at a daily news briefing.

China hopes Pakistan will find economic and social stability, Hua said, expressing condolences to the victims and sympathy to their families.

Negotiators nominated by the Pakistani Taliban and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the peace talks called for an end to all "violent action" to push the peace process forward after their first meeting in Islamabad last week.

In apparent deadlock, a government negotiation team Monday refused to meet the Taliban intermediaries after the Taliban killed the security men.

The Taliban faction in Mohmand tribal region said that 23 security personnel, who had been captured in 2010, were killed on Sunday as revenge for what it called "extra-judicial killing of its detained activists."