Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in Beijing Tuesday
that Chinese President Hu Jintao's tour to Poland, Hungary, Romania
and Uzbekistan, which started on Tuesday, is "an important
visit."
Liu said at a regular news briefing that this is Hu's first
state visit to these countries since he became the Chinese
president.
The spokesman said the four countries are all friendly partners
of China, and have conducted sound cooperation with China in
economic cooperation and international affairs.
The visit will help increase bilateral understanding, deepen the
friendship, expand cooperation, and further promote the friendly
cooperative ties between China and these countries, said Liu.
During his visit, the president will also attend the Tashkent
summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said
Liu.
He said the Tashkent summit meeting will be the SCO's first
meeting since the organization entered a new stage of development,
which will be of great importance for SCO to fix its direction of
future development, specify its work in all areas, and further play
its role in regional and international affairs.
Liu said the purpose of the Tashkent summit meeting is to deepen
the cooperation among SCO members in the security, trade and
economic areas. During the meeting, heads of state of the SCO
members will make important decisions on SCO cooperation in various
fields like diplomacy, security, economy and transport, and also
will sign a series of agreements and documents.
Liu said that, during the meeting, the Chinese side will take a
positive and constructive attitude and hold close consultations
with other countries on strengthening relevant cooperation.
Turning to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Liu said the
specific date of the third round of six-party talks was still being
discussed.
Liu said that the concerned parties had put forward some
proposals on the date of the third round of six-party talks, and
China will strengthen consultation with other parties so as to
reach consensus soon.
China had maintained contacts with relevant parties over the
nuclear issue, and Ning Fukui, ambassador on Korean Peninsula
affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, had visited Russia and
consulted with the Russian side on issues related to the third
round of talks.
Ning was consulting with the US side now in the United States
and was scheduled to visit the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK) later, Liu said.
He added that Cui Tiankai, director-general of the Foreign
Ministry's Asian Affairs Department, had also left Beijing on
Sunday for Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) to consult with
relevant officials on the next round of talks.
Liu said these consultations, as preparation for the next round
of talks, were still in progress. China hopes that the related
parties could continue to take a constructive attitude, show
flexibility to the full, seek and expand common ground, narrow
differences, and work actively to find solutions to the nuclear
issue.
China hopes that the third round of talks, on the basis of the
previous two rounds of talks, would make progress towards the
direction of resolving the nuclear issue through dialogue, Liu
said.
At the first working group meeting of the six-party talks in
Beijing last month, negotiators from China, the DPRK, the United
States, the ROK, Russia and Japan agreed that the third round of
six-party talks would be held in Beijing before the end of June
after one more working-level discussion.
Moving on to the G-8 summit that began in the United States
Tuesday, the spokesman said China hopes the G-8 summit will give
more support to developing countries to promote their common
prosperity.
Liu said that the Group of Eight plays an important role in
solving international issues, and they should fully consider the
concerns and interests of all countries at the summit, and take
steps to help developing countries solve difficulties and promote
the common prosperity of all countries.
"We hopes this year's G-8 summit will further make progress in
this aspect," said the spokesman.
Liu said the Chinese side attaches great importance to the
cooperation with the Group of Eight, and will further play a
constructive role in keeping the peace of the world and realizing
the common prosperity of all countries.
Leaders of the seven industrialized countries, namely the United
States, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Canada, and the
president of Russia are attending the three-day G-8 summit.
In response to reports that the Chinese mainland would be
willing to reduce the number of missiles targeting Taiwan if
Washington stopped selling high-tech military hardware to the
island, Liu said he did not know the source of the news.
However, he stressed that China will not tolerate any attempts
to split Taiwan from China.
"We hope that the US side can abide by the promise it has made
and make efforts to maintain peace and stability in the
region."
Liu praised former US President Ronald Reagan's efforts to
promote the improvement and development of Sino-US ties.
He said that during Reagan's presidency, China and the United
States issued the famous "August 17" Communiqué to set up
principles for resolving the issue concerning US arms sales to
Taiwan.
The "August 17" Communiqué, one of the three important joint
communiqués guiding Sino-US relations, still plays an important
role in the development of bilateral ties, Liu said, hoping that
the communiqué would be practically abided by concerned
parties.
Reagan's state visit to China in 1984 also promoted the
exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in various fields,
Liu said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing
sent messages of condolence to their US counterparts respectively
on Sunday over the death of former US President Ronald Reagan. In
the messages to US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State
Colin Powell, Hu and Li also expressed sympathy to Reagan's wife,
Nancy and his relatives.
Reagan, who served as the 40th US president from 1981 to 1989,
passed away at the age of 93 at his home in California on Saturday
after a decade-long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
In another development, Liu said the Five Principles of Peaceful
Coexistence still have practical significance in the present
time.
Liu said that the five principles, as important rules for
international relations in the past 50 years, play an important
role in regulating relations and resolving issues between different
countries.
China and India will jointly celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the establishment of the five principles this year, Liu said,
adding that China will hold a seminar in Beijing to mark the
anniversary, so as to strive for further implementation of the five
principles during the process of establishing a new international
political and economic system.
The five principles are mutual respect for sovereignty and
territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in
each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and
peaceful coexistence. They were initiated and proposed by China,
India and Myanmar in 1954.
When asked to comment on China's position on the humanitarian
crisis in Darfur, western Sudan, the spokesman said China welcomes
the positive efforts made by the Sudanese government on this
issue.
China hopes relevant parties will continue to make joint efforts
to settle the crisis through negotiation, so as to realize peace,
stability and development in this region, said Liu.
Since the conflict in Darfur began in February 2003, about
130,000 people have fled to neighboring Chad, while an estimated
900,000 are displaced within Sudan.
In response to a question concerning China's sending
peacekeeping forces to Haiti, Liu said China always supports the
peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, and is holding
consultations with relevant parties on the details of dispatching
peacekeeping troops to Haiti.
Also at yesterday's briefing, the spokesman announced Burundian
Vice President Alphonse-Marie Kadage will pay an official visit to
China from June 13 to 19 at the invitation of Chinese Vice
President Zeng Qinghong.
(Sources including Xinhua News Agency and China Daily, June 9,
2004)