US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Saturday that the
United States has had a "best" relationship with China in over 30
years, in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday.
"But we have a good relationship with China. I would submit it's
the best relationship that the United States has had with China in
over 30 years," Powell said in an interview with CNBC's weekly
program "The Wall Street Journal Report," which is also aired on
some 200 broadcast stations across the country.
Transcripts of the interview were released by the State
Department on its website on Saturday.
Powell lauded China's role in regional affairs, particularly in
South Asia and on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.
"I have found the Chinese leadership over the last three or four
years...to be very helpful as we worked our way through problems on
the (South Asian) subcontinent, the challenge that we faced two
years ago between India and Pakistan," he said.
On the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK), he said "China is playing a very helpful role in the
resolution of the problem with" the DPRK, and that "it's China
that's been hosting these six-party talks and playing a leadership
as well as a hosting role."
The United State is pleased to have a strong economic
relationship with China, and would rather "be competing with China
in the world of economics than in other kinds of worlds," Powell
said.
The Chinese are sensitive to the trade imbalance between the two
countries, and that the Chinese side is doing more to buy more from
the Untied States, he said.
"So what we want to do is engage China, watch how they develop
in the future, watch it with caution, but not with fear; watch it
for the purpose of moving along with China and not trying to
contain China," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency November 14, 2004)
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