China urges U.S. to respect its core interests

19:33, March 02, 2010


A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman urged the United States to respect its core interests while commenting on a trip to China by two senior U.S. diplomats on Tuesday.

"We urge the U. S. to earnestly observe the principles laid down in the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques and their joint statement, respect China's core interests and properly handle sensitive issues, so as to push the relations back to the normal track," said spokesman Qin Gang at a regular press conference.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs, Jeffrey Bader, started a three-day visit to China Tuesday amid recent tensions in bilateral ties following Washington's 6.4-billion-U.S.-dollar arms sales plan to Taiwan and President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama.

China is not to blame for the current difficult situation, Qin said, urging the U.S. to take China's interests and concerns seriously.

The foreign ministry said the U.S. side proposed the visit and China then accepted it.

Source:Xinhua

Will U.S.diplomats' visit ease China-U.S.tensions?

11:42, March 02, 2010


By Xinhua Writer Li Zhongfa

Two senior U.S. diplomats are to embark on a three-day visit to China this week, but will the visit break the deadlock between the two countries?

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg and Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, will pay the visit from Tuesday to Thursday.

The high-level visit comes amid spats between the two countries following Washington's 6.4-billion-U.S.-dollar arms sale plan to Taiwan and President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang has said the U.S. side proposed the visit and "China has accepted it."

The two U.S. officials "will exchange views with the Chinese side over matters related to China-U.S. relations," Qin said.

Steinberg, number two in the U.S. State Department, invented the new concept of "strategic reassurance" late last year to describe U.S.-China relations, suggesting Washington welcome China's arrival as a global power even as China reassures the U.S. and its neighbors that its rise would not run counter to their interests.

Bader served as director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, a leading Washington-based foreign policy think tank.

Analysts describe the visit as a U.S. effort to "mend bilateral ties".

"The U.S. side proposing the visit shows that it has realized the severity of the problem and hopes to patch up the ties as soon as possible. That is a good gesture," said Tao Wenzhao, an expert with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Source:Xinhua