US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to arrive in
Beijing Saturday evening for a whirlwind visit as guest of Chinese
Foreign Minister Li
Zhaoxing.
China is the first leg of Rice's four-nation Asian tour aimed
primarily at finding ways to resume stalled six-party talks on the
Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.
During her stay, Rice is expected to confer with Chinese
President Hu
Jintao, Premier Wen
Jiabao, and State Councilor Tang
Jiaxuan and hold talks with Li Zhaoxing, on bilateral relations
and international and regional issues of common concern, according
to sources with the Foreign Ministry.
Besides China, Rice will also go to Thailand, Japan and the
Republic of Korea.
Before her departure, Rice told reporters Friday the United
States had no "timetable" for the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK) to return to the stalled multilateral negotiations
aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program and would "keep opening
doors" in a bid to jumpstart the talks.
She expressed confidence in the US-China cooperation in the
promotion of restarting the six-party talks.
This will be Rice's second trip to China in less than four
months. Her first China visit in the capacity of US secretary of
state was made on March 20.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2005)