BEIJING, May 31 (Reuter) - International sanctions against the former Yugoslavia should be lifted soon and the sovereignty of the former Yugoslavian republics respected, China's Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said on Wednesday.

"China stands for a prompt lifing of sanctions on former Yugoslavia so as to help restore peace in this region," Xinhua news agency quoted Qian as saying.

Qian spoke in a meeting with the foreign minister of Macedonia, Stevo Crvenkovski.

China was deeply concerned about the Balkan situation and believed all disputes should be settled peacefully, he said.

Fighting erupted in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia-Herzogovina on Wednesday, breaking a calm that had prevailed for a few days while the international community tried to end a crisis over United Nations peacekeeping troops held hostage by Bosnian Serbs.

The Bosnian Serbs have said they will go on holding the U.N. hostages until they obtain pledges that there will be no more air strikes.

They have drawn international condemnation for detaining some 370 peacekeepers in reponse to NATO bombing raids against Serbian ammunition dumps in Sarajevo in the past week.

China, a member of the U.N. Security Council, has voiced its concern at the detention of the peacekeepers.

"We hold the view that the safety of U.N peacekeepers in Bosnia should be guaranteed," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

"We hope that the relevant parties will exercise restraint, properly settle the detention of U.N. peacekeepers and refrain from taking any action which will further complicate the situation."