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Chinese PM, US Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick Discuss Ties, Other Issues

Posted on: Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 06:00 CST

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

Beijing, 24 January: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with US Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick here Tuesday [24 January]. They exchanged views on Sino-US relations, as well as international and regional issues of common concern, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry official who failed to disclose any details. Zoellick arrived here Monday night on a three-day visit to China.

Zoellick will also hold talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo to review the issues addressed in the December 2005 US- China Strategic Dialogue that they led, and review preparations for the next meeting later in the year, according to a statement posted on the official website of the US Department of State.

The statement quoted Zoellick as saying that the United States and China are two large and important stakeholders in the international system, and it is in their shared interest to listen to one another. "I look forward to a good exchange of views in Beijing on security and proliferation issues - particularly in Northeast Asia, and Iran - the upcoming conference on Afghanistan in London, China's efforts to promote internal openness and reform, and China's recent white paper on Africa," he said.

The statement described Zoellick's visit to China as "another step in finding ways in enhanced cooperation between the United States and China within the framework that Zoellick outlined in his 21 September, 2005 speech in New York, in which he proposed that the United States must step up efforts to make China a "responsible stakeholder" in the international system. [quotation marks as received]

After Beijing, Zoellick will travel to Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, where he will meet with senior local government officials and visit a panda research base in Chengdu. China and the United States held two rounds of strategic talks in August and December last year on issues including trade, intellectual property protection, the Taiwan issue, bird flu, the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and the RMB exchange rate.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan made a positive comment on the current China-US relations at the previous press briefing. "Though facing with some problems, bilateral relations are heading forward in an unprecedented width and depth," Kong said, adding that the two countries need to keep constant contacts and frequent exchange of views.

China is Zoellick's second leg of a three-nation tour. Zoellick will leave China for the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. He started his tour from Japan, where he stayed from 22 to 23 January.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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