China is justified not to share the details of its natural gas
exploration in the East China Sea with Japan, Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in Beijing Tuesday.
Kong told a regular news briefing that it was unreasonable for
Japan to ask for this information from China as the exploration was
conducted in China's offshore area.
The two countries had never conducted border demarcation on the
East China Sea. Japan once unilaterally announced a median line but
never discussed the proposal with China. Therefore, China could
neither accept nor acknowledge this median line, Kong said.
To solve the territory dispute, Kong said that both sides should
begin peaceful negotiations on a basis of equality and mutual
respect to avoid escalating the problem.
"A safe and stable East China Sea is good to both sides," he
said.
Kong reiterated China's stance of solving problems through
consultation and its policy of "sheltering disputes to seek common
exploration" of the vast water area.
According to the spokesman, Li
Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political
Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee,
will visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from
Friday to Monday, the second high-level visit between the two
nations since DPRK leader Kim Jong-il's Beijing tour in April.
"During the visit, the two sides will not only aim to promote
bilateral ties, but will discuss some major regional and
international issues, including the nuclear issue on the Korean
Peninsula," said Kong.
The spokesman said China hoped all six parties taking part in
talks on the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula to keep calm,
remain flexible and continue negotiations despite the inevitable
difficulties in holding the fourth round of the six-party
negotiations this month as scheduled.
"There are some difficulties, but these are not difficulties
that have just arisen at this moment," said Kong, adding that the
goal of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula could only be reached "step
by step."
"I think this is not only the aspiration of people in the region
but also of the international community," he said.
Kong made the remarks amid flurries of diplomatic activities to
start a new round of six-party talks involving China, DPRK, the
United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and Japan.
Japan's Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that senior
officials from Japan, the ROK and the United States would meet in
Tokyo late this week.
The six countries agreed at the end of the third round of the
six-party nuclear talks, held in Beijing in June, to hold the
fourth round of the talks before the end of September.
In a related development, Kong said the ROK side has informed
China about the investigation by the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) about its uranium issue.
"We hope the ROK side can cooperate with the IAEA to resolve the
case," Kong said, adding that he hoped the issue would not affect
the six-party talks.
An IAEA inspection team arrived in the ROK on August 29 to
investigate the claim that several ROK scientists conducted uranium
separation experiments in early 2000.
The IAEA will conduct an analysis of the enriched uranium they
brought from the ROK to discover its elements and enrichment level.
Then they will report to the IAEA board of directors whether their
analysis is in accordance with the ROK government's report, local
media reported.
Earlier, ROK government senior officials stressed that the
experiment was an academic activity having nothing to do with
nuclear weapons, and that the enriched uranium was far below
weapons-grade.
In response to remarks made by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh over the weekend on the future development of relations with
China at his first media conference since he took the position in
May, Kong said China attaches great importance to relations with
India and would like to work with India to greatly strengthen
cooperation in all areas and bring their bilateral constructive and
cooperative partnership to a new level.
On the border issue, the two countries should proceed from the
friendship between the two countries and properly handle it,
following the principles of consultations on an equal footing,
mutual understanding and accommodation and mutual adjustment.
Singh said he hoped the border dispute between the two countries
would be resolved soon. "The senior representatives of the two
countries are discussing the border issue and it is my hope we can
make progress in our resolution," Singh said.
In another development, the spokesman said he was deeply
regretful for the incident that a foreign reporter had got injured
in a crowd of agitated fans immediately after the Asian Cup final
on Aug. 7.
One reporter from the Associated Press and another from the
Agence France-Presse (AFP) were pushed by the crowd of fans
after the Asian Cup final closed in Beijing, and the AP reporter's
head was hurt, according to Kong.
Kong said he paid great attention to the issue and reported the
incident to the police department in Beijing. An official with the
Foreign Ministry paid a visit to the two reporters to express
sympathy, he said.
"The Chinese government will do its utmost for the legal
reporting rights and interest of foreign journalists," he said.
"The situation at that time was chaotic," he said, noting relevant
department is continuing the investigation.
Also at yesterday's briefing, the spokesman announced that at
the invitation of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov,
Chinese State Councilor Chen
Zhili will visit Russia from Sept. 11 to 14 to preside over the
Fifth Session of the China-Russia Cooperation Committee on
Education, Culture, Health and Sports with Zhukov; and at the
invitation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Albanian Prime Minister
Fatos Nano will pay an official visit to China from Sept. 13 to
19.
(Sources including China Daily and Xinhua News Agency,
September 8, 2004)