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)