President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe are likely to meet on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Germany
early next month.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular press
conference yesterday that the officials of the two countries are
working to coordinate the talks and the result would be announced
next week.
Japanese media said the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula
and the dispute over gas exploration rights in the East China Sea
would be high on the agenda of Hu-Abe talks.
It would be the third meeting between the two leaders since Abe
visited China last October soon after taking office in a bid to
mend bilateral ties.
They met again a month later in Vietnam on the sidelines of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
As for the ties with NATO, Jiang said China is willing to
"maintain contact" and "intensify exchanges" with NATO on the basis
of equality and mutual respect.
"This is conducive to increasing understanding between the two
sides and also helps promote international and regional peace and
stability," Jiang said.
She was commenting on remarks by NATO senior officials on China
relations. NATO refers to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a
Western alliance during the Cold War.
NATO Military Commission Chairman General Ray Henault said
yesterday the organization was ready and willing to set up direct
"military-to-military" relations with China. On Wednesday, NATO
Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters that
relations between the NATO and China are developing "very
well."
NATO's bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade eight years ago,
which killed three Chinese journalists, sent relations between the
two sides plummeting to their lowest point.
Responding to a question about the Darfur issue, Jiang said
China believes all parties should make efforts to build mutual
trust and continue to push for a political resolution through
dialogue.
Special envoy Liu Guijin left Sudan on Wednesday after a
five-day visit where he met senior Sudanese officials.
"We hope the Sudanese side could be more flexible" in
implementing the peace plan proposed by former UN chief Kofi Annan
to step up the political process in the Darfur region, Jiang
said.
On talks between China and Japan on gas exploration in the East
China Sea, which start in Beijing today, Jiang said leaders of the
two countries have reached a consensus on the issue.
"Both sides should actively promote the consultation process
based on the consensus in a bid to work out a plan that is
acceptable to the two countries as soon as possible."
China will not accept joint development of the East China Sea
with the "median line" proposed by the Japanese side as a
precondition, she said.
According to Japanese media, Tokyo has proposed that the two
nations jointly develop natural gas in a much wider area of the
East China Sea straddling the Japan-designated median line.
Replying to a question about Myanmar's political reform, Jiang
said it is Myanmar's internal affair.
China has been insisting the issue should be resolved by the
Myanmar government and its people through consultations, she
said.
"The international community should adopt an active and
constructive attitude to help Myanmar promote the process of
national reconciliation without damaging the nation's sovereignty
and national dignity," Jiang said.
In another development, Jiang said German President Horst
Koehler's China visit would be a "very important" one as it
coincides with the 35th anniversary of the establishment of
China-Germany diplomatic ties.
"We hope to increase consensus while reducing disputes through
dialogue, so as to lift bilateral relations to a new level." Jiang
added.
Koehler arrived in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province on Wednesday, starting a
four-day state visit to China. This is his first ever China tour
since he took office.
During his visit as guest of President Hu, Koehler is expected
to hold talks with Hu, and meet with Premier Wen Jiabao and top political advisor Jia Qinglin.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2007)
