Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in Beijing
Tuesday at a regular news briefing that China has put forward a
proposal to the United Nations (UN) Security Council on the Iraqi
issue, elaborating on China's goals and principles.
Liu said the proposal, in the form of a "non-paper", includes
the following goals:
l????????
to improve the security condition in Iraq, resume peace and
stability and help the Iraqi people in reconstruction and
development;
l????????
to maintain Iraq's political independence and territorial integrity
and establish a new Iraq featuring democracy, openness, ethnic
unity and neighborhood;
l????????
to help Iraq re-enter the international community and keep peace
and stability in the Gulf region;
l????????
to create conditions for the international community to participate
in Iraqi reconstruction and for the UN to play an important
role.
As for the principles on the Iraqi issue, Liu said they are:
l????????
to respect the Iraqi people's will, choice and rights for the
future of their country and to make the Iraqi people govern
Iraq;
l????????
to settle the Iraqi issue within the framework of the UN and
support the efforts made by the UN secretary-general and its
representatives;
l????????
to hear voices from Iraq when it comes to the Security Council's
related resolutions;
l????????
to respect all nations' legitimate rights in Iraq and address
reasonable concerns of Iraq's neighboring countries and Arabic
countries;
l????????
to respect, safeguard and promote human rights in Iraq.
Liu said that China supports the UN Security Council to adopt a
new resolution on Iraq.
According to Liu, recently Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing
talked by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US
Secretary of State Colin Powell respectively and exchanged opinions
with them on relevant issues.
Li also expressed China's proposition and concern in the phone
conversations.
Liu said China is carefully studying the draft resolution
presented by the United States and Britain to the UN Security
Council.
China will continue to participate in the council's discussion
and consultation with an active and constructive attitude, he said,
adding that China hopes council members will exchange in-depth
views and widely hear the opinions of all parties, especially the
views of Iraq and other Arab countries as well as the opinion of UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
China hopes that relevant parties will reach consensus at an
early date, and create conditions for an early realization of
"Iraqi people governing Iraq" and a full play of the UN's role, Liu
said.???
In another development, the spokesman said China firmly opposes
the US House of Representatives' passage of the defense
authorization bill for fiscal year 2005, which contains anti-China
provisions, and has made solemn representation to the US side.
The anti-China items, which demand sales of landing vessels to
Taiwan and high-level military educational exchanges between the
United States and Taiwan, together with similar amendments put
forward by some people of the US Senate, posed a severe violation
of the three Sino-US joint communiqués and the one-China policy the
US government has reiterated many times that it will abide by, said
Liu.
China urges the US administration to clearly oppose these
provisions and amendments, adopt effective measures to prevent them
from being made into law, in order to prevent possible harm to
Sino-US relations, he said.
The spokesman on Tuesday also urges Japan to treat seriously and
handle properly the issues left over by history, including the
forced laborers issue.
A high court in Japan on Monday denied redress to a group of 15
Chinese men forced to work in Japanese coal mines during World War
II amid a series of lawsuits former Chinese forced laborers have
filed in Japan.
"The forced labor is one of the gravest crimes committed by
Japanese militarists during the Japanese War of Aggression Against
China, and China urges the Japanese government to handle properly
the issue in a responsible way," Liu said.
The Fukuoka High Court rejected the demand for compensation
because of limitation of actions, thus overturning the Fukuoka
District Court ruling in April 2002 that ordered Mitsui Mining to
pay 10 million yen for each forced worker.
In the Fukuoka High Court suit, the 15 Chinese men, now in their
70s and 80s, demanded 23 million yen each in compensation to be
paid by the state and the company, as well as apologies to be
published in newspapers.
While asked to comment on Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van
Khai's five-day official visit to China, which concluded Monday,
Liu said Khai's visit is successful and will facilitate further
development of the Sino-Vietnamese relationship.
Liu said Khai and Chinese leaders held in-depth discussions and
frankly exchanged views on the bilateral relationship and issues of
common concern.
Both sides reiterated that the two countries will, guided by the
principles of "long-term stability, future orientation,
good-neighborly friendship and comprehensive cooperation," expand
exchanges, deepen the mutual trust, seek sincere cooperation and
have shared development, to raise their good-neighborly and
friendly cooperation to a new level.
Economic cooperation was the focus of all the discussions. The
Chinese side put forward a package of suggestions, which were
agreed to and welcomed by Khai, said Liu.
Both sides have agreed on four principles, which are:
strengthening high-level contacts, and forging stronger political
ties; enhancing all-round trade and economic cooperation in all
spheres to double trade volume by 2010; expanding local and
non-governmental contacts and exploring multi-channel cooperation
to consolidate their traditional friendship; and taking the whole
situation into account and properly resolving problems existing in
their relations.
When asked to comment on the new Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's remark that developing a relationship with China will be
the foreign policy priority of India's new government, Liu said the
Sino-Indian bilateral relationship faces important opportunities
and China is willing to work together with the new Indian
government to take them and push forward their long-term
constructive cooperative partnership.
China endorses the prime minister's positive perspective on the
Sino-Indian relationship and has highlighted the friendly
cooperation with India, a very important neighbor of China, said
the spokesman.
The Sino-Indian bilateral relationship has entered a new phase
of all-round progress and faces important opportunities for
development, Liu noted. China hopes and believes that the two
governments will work together to maintain the good momentum and
advance the long-term constructive cooperative partnership between
the two countries.?
Also at yesterday's briefing, the spokesman announced Eritrean
Foreign Minister Ali Seid Abdellah will pay an official visit to
China from May 26 to 30 at the invitation of Foreign Minister Li
Zhaoxing.
(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2004)