China said Tuesday it would make joint efforts with the US to
ensure success of the 18th China-US Joint Commission on Commerce
and Trade (JCCT) and the third China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue
(SED) to be held this December in Beijing.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said at a regular
press conference that the JCCT and SED are an important platform
for the two countries to deepen understanding and promote sound
development of economic and trade relations.
The SED focuses on the strategic, long-term, and comprehensive
issues within economic relations and the JCCT stresses the
development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation as well as
the discussion on specific issues, Liu said.
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi will chair the two meetings and China is
willing to make joint efforts to ensure the success of the meetings
so as to push ahead China-US economic and trade ties, Liu
added.
Iran nuclear issue
Liu said the Iranian nuclear issue is a key topic that US
Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates discussed with Chinese state
and military leaders during his recently concluded China tour.
"The two countries have the same goal on the Iranian nuclear
issue. Both believe Iran should not possess nuclear weapons and
both advocate safeguarding the international nuclear
non-proliferation mechanism," Liu said.
China calls on the parties concerned to continue dialogues and
consultations including Iran's consultation with the International
Atomic Energy Agency and the EU, and expects these dialogues to
bear fruits, the spokesman added.
At the invitation of Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan, Gates paid a three-day official
visit to China from November 4 to 6.
Pakistan situation
China is highly concerned about the situation in Pakistan, and
believes the country has the ability to solve its own issues, said
Liu.
"Pakistan is one of the important neighboring countries of
China. We believe the Pakistani government and people have the
ability to solve their own problems and hope Pakistan could
maintain stability and development," Liu said.
On November 3, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a
state of emergency in the country and issued a provisional
constitutional order (PCO), citing the rise in extremist
activities, incidents of terrorist attacks, and the abuse of the
judiciary in the country.
North Korea's nuclear issue
The disablement of the nuclear facilities in North Korea was "an
encouraging progress." Liu said, adding that the joint document the
six parties reached on October 3 has been implemented effectively,
and China was satisfied with the progress.
"We hope the parties concerned could continue to follow their
commitment and consensus, and implement the joint document in a
comprehensive and balanced way," Liu said.
The US said on Monday that a team of US nuclear experts arrived
at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, where North Korea's sole
functioning nuclear reactor is situated and began the work of
disabling the facilities.
North Korea shut down Yongbyon nuclear reactor in July. It
agreed to disable all existing nuclear facilities and to provide a
complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs by the
end of this year, according to a joint document released on October
3 when the second phase of the sixth round of six-party talks ended
in Beijing.
The document said the disabling of the five-megawatt
Experimental Reactor, the Reprocessing Plant (Radiochemical
Laboratory), and the Nuclear Fuel Rod Fabrication Facility in
Yongbyon would be completed by December 31.
The six-party talks involve China, North Korea,
South Korea, the US, Japan, and Russia.
China-Germany ties
China attaches great importance to developing relations with
Germany and hopes ties could move forward smoothly, Liu said.
Liu's remarks came in response to a question concerning German
Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with the Dalai Lama this
September.
He said some difficulties have emerged in the current bilateral
relations and this is due to the meeting between the German leader
and the Dalai Lama.
"We hope Germany can take concrete measures immediately to
remove the serious impact of its erroneous act," Liu said.
Myanmar issue
China supports the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) on playing a constructive role in the Myanmar issue, Liu
said in response to a question on whether the Myanmar issue will be
discussed at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore later this
month.
Liu said the Myanmar issue should be fundamentally resolved with
the efforts of Myanmar's government and people and China hopes the
world community could make a more constructive contribution so as
to seek national reconciliation, stability, democracy, and
development at an early date.
Sudan's reaffirmation to peace
agreement
China welcomes the recent reaffirmation by the north and south
of Sudan to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
"China appreciates the north and south for their consideration
of national unity and reconciliation to resolve the difference
through dialogue and consultation so as to safeguard the
hard-earned peaceful result and promote the peace process," said
Liu.
He said China was happy to see the north and south of Sudan
reaffirm their implementation of the CPA and declare to establish a
joint committee to ensure mechanisms and timetables to solve the
unsettled problems.
The CPA, signed in 2005, ended a 21-year civil war between north
and south Sudan.
Turkey-Iraq border problem
China said Tuesday it was concerned about the situation on the
border between Turkey and Iraq and hoped the relevant sides would
resolve the problem through dialogue and consultation.
He said China had noticed that the relevant sides had made some
efforts to settle the problem, and China hopes the region would
realize peace at an early date.
(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2007)
