Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kong Quan said at Tuesday's
regular news briefing that China is pleased that the Iraqi
elections were carried out on schedule.??
"We think the elections are an important step towards the
reconstruction of Iraq," he said. "We hope the elections will help
to stabilize the Iraqi situation, realize the will of Iraqi people
to become masters of their country, and push forward the
reconstruction process."
When asked to comment on Nepali King Gyanendra's Tuesday
announcement of dissolving the coalition government led by Prime
Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and forming a new government under his
own "chairmanship," Kong called the king's decision "an internal
affair of Nepal," adding that China respects the choice of Nepalese
in developing their own country and sincerely wishes the nation to
realize social security, economic development and ethnic
pacification.
Kong also said China has welcomed Nepal's last week decision to
close the Dalai Lama's representative office in Katmandu.
"We believe this is a just decision made by the Nepalese
government in accordance with its sovereignty and maintaining its
sovereignty," he said.
Commenting on the two-day closed-door China-US defense policy
meeting that began Monday, Kong said it is important for the two
countries to hold talks on military relations.
He said they discussed the plan for military exchanges this
year. Both believe that frank, cooperative and constructive
bilateral military ties are conducive to world peace.
He said the two sides have also agreed that the Taiwan question
is crucial in the development of bilateral military ties.
The two sides did not discuss the EU's proposed plan to lift a
15-year-long arms embargo against China in 2005.
Washington opposes lifting the ban for fear that European arms
could be used against US forces should they be called upon to
defend Taiwan, reports said.
Kong said that US opposition is unreasonable.
"We have a hope that on this issue, third parties, including the
US, will not stand in the way and will conform with the natural
trend," he said.
Kong also said China hopes the US and Japan will make more
contributions to regional stability and understanding.
Japanese media reports that the US and Japan are poised to
revise defense guidelines, which focus on Taiwan.
Kong said China hopes both countries will be cautious when
dealing with those issues.
Turning to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Kong said China
has proposed holding working-level talks to pave the way for early
resumption of the six-party talks.
He said that all parties could elaborate on their positions and
solve their differences.
"These kind of working group meetings are conducive to the
restarting of the talks and gaining achievement," he said.
He said China is willing to exert its utmost efforts to promote
anything that is helpful for the early resumption of the talks.
Kong said China has always been engaged in "very close contacts
with all parties concerned" and hoped that a "suitable atmosphere
and conditions" would be created to restart the negotiations.
On Monday, newly appointed US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice reaffirmed the US' desire to restart talks in telephone
conversations with Foreign Minister Li
Zhaoxing.
Kong said this was the first official phone call contact between
the senior officials in charge of foreign affairs in the two
countries after Rice's appointment.
Kong also announced that State Councilor Tang
Jiaxuan left Beijing Tuesday morning for a four-day visit to
Moscow.
He said Tang was scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir
Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and other senior officials,
with the six-party talks likely to be discussed.
Meanwhile, Kong urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(DPRK) and Japan to resolve their differences over the historical
problems through talks and negotiations.
The issues include Japan's forcible drafting of Koreans for
forced labor during World War II.
Tension between the two countries has escalated recently when
Japan threatened to impose sanctions against the DPRK.
In another development, Kong hailed positive remarks made by
Indian officials at the Seventh Asian Security Conference, which
spoke highly of Sino-Indian relations.
He said Sino-Indian ties have maintained stable development in
recent years and have entered into a new stage of full
development.
"China is willing to join hands with India in efforts to push
forward a friendly cooperative bilateral relationship on the base
of mutual benefit," he said.
Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh last Thursday
said that both India and China were aware that trust and
cooperation between them "are part of the most crucial elements
that make our region and Asia a vibrant and energetic fulcrum for
growth." He was inaugurating the conference in New Delhi. China and
India held their first strategic dialogue successfully on January
24 there.
Moving on to the Darfur issue, Kong said China hopes the
international community not to merely impose pressure and sanctions
against Sudan given the present situation.
"To resolve the Darfur issue requires joint efforts of the
international community and the Sudanese government," he said,
adding that peace process has shown its signs at present in Sudan
and African leaders have reached a basic consensus on this point at
the just-concluded fourth summit of African Union (AU) held between
January 30-31 in Nigerian capital Abuja.
China has been paying attention to the Darfur issue, and "has
always hoped and urged the Sudanese government to ease up the
humanitarian situation in the Darfur region as soon as possible
with the help of international community," he said.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, also the chairman of the
53-member AU, said on January 31 in Abuja that peace talks between
the Sudanese government and rebels in Darfur will resume in Abuja
in the middle of February.
Also at yesterday's briefing, Kong said China will fully
participate in the commemorative activities of 60th anniversary of
the end of World War II in Europe.
He said the commemorative activities are significant for
maintaining peace and stability in the world.
He said China will take part in a grand celebration in Moscow in
May.
(CRI.com, China Daily, Xinhua News Agency February 2,
2005)