China and the United States will hold the fifth round of strategic dialogue from Jan. 17 to 18 in China with the consents of the two countries, announced by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu at a regular press conference on Thursday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte will co-chair the dialogue, Jiang said.
"The two sides will continue to have an in-depth exchange of the views on Sino-US relations and the international and regional issues of common concerns based on the previous four dialogues," she said.
The dialogue mechanism, established in accordance with the consensus reached in 2004 between President Hu Jintao and US President George W. Bush, is an important platform for the two countries to communicate on strategic and political level.
The first strategic dialogue was held in Beijing in August of 2005.
Dialogue best solution to Iran nuclear issue
China considered dialogue and consultation would be the best solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, said Jiang when asked about US President Bush having gotten some international banks to halt financing to Iran after finding that some Iranian companies had used those banks to channel funding for terrorist organizations.
Jiang said that China had taken notice of these reports.
Jiang called for stronger diplomatic efforts from the international community to resume talks at an earlier date in seeking a long-term, comprehensive and appropriate solution to the issue.
Africa's opinions on strengthening cooperation should be respected
The international community should fully respect and listen to Africa's opinions when strengthening cooperation in the continent, said Jiang when asked to comment on the reports saying that the European Union (EU) official would propose to establish a mechanism for strengthening EU-China cooperation in Africa.
Jiang said both China and EU have had long-term exchanges and cooperation with Africa, and both are devoted to safeguarding peace and stability of Africa and realizing sustainable development of the continent.
China is willing to explore ways to strengthen communication and cooperation with EU on issues concerning Africa, Jiang said, stressing that the international community should fully respect and listen to Africa's opinions.
Jiang said China is willing to take an open and cooperative attitude to cooperating with countries and regional organizations that really care about the development of Africa so as to make a joint contribution to stability, peace and development of the continent.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2008)
