Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and United States Secretary
of State Colin Powell agreed Wednesday that the recent growing
cooperation and consultations between Beijing and Washington
benefit both countries' interests.
At
a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations annual meeting in Brunei's capital Bandar
Seri Begawan, both men expressed satisfaction with recent
developments in bilateral ties.
Tang and Powell said that the two countries are expanding
cooperation in counter-terrorism and trade and also consulting each
other on United Nations affairs as well as regional and global
issues such as the situation in South Asia and on the Korean
Peninsula.
They said they believed that Chinese President Jiang Zemin's
upcoming visit to the United States and his third summit with US
President George W. Bush this autumn will further strengthen
bilateral ties. The specific date of Jiang's visit has not been
announced yet.
They also agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation on
counter-terrorism on the basis of mutual benefit. They decided to
hold the second consultations of the China-US counter-terrorism
team this October, dealing with financial matters.
The two officials agreed that their countries will begin talks soon
on exchanging information for the fight against drugs and also set
up a new round of bilateral dialogues on human-rights issues.
Tang reaffirmed the Chinese government's basic policy of "peaceful
reunification" and of "one country, two systems" on the Taiwan
question. He said those who seek independence for Taiwan are the
main enemies of the process towards China's peaceful reunification
and they also hurt US interests.
He
said China is concerned about the recent US move towards
strengthening political and military ties with Taiwan. Tang urged
the United States to stop selling weapons to Taiwan and to cut all
official and military contacts with Taiwan.
Tang also met Paek Nam-sun, his counterpart from the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea, in Brunei's capital. They agreed to
further expand the traditional friendship and cooperation between
the two neighboring countries.
Paek said developing the strategic relationship between China and
the DPRK is the common wish of the peoples of the two countries and
is in the interests of them both.
Tang said China supports Pyongyang's bid to improve inter-Korean
relations and achieve the peaceful reunification of Korea.
He
said the DPRK's recent proposals for resuming inter-Korean
dialogue, its invitation for a US envoy to visit the DPRK and its
holding of bilateral talks with Japan all demonstrated the DPRK's
strong will to maintain peace.
Tang also met his Indian counterpart, Yashwant Sinha. Tang said he
hopes that India and Pakistan will enter into dialogue to ease
tensions on the subcontinent.
China, which has kept a close eye on the situation in South Asia,
has no selfish interests in the India-Pakistan dispute, Tang
said.
(China Daily August 1,
2002)