Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kong Quan held a
regular press conference on 12 June.
Kong :
There are a number of press conferences today, e.g. two in
the morning, one on SARS and another on the Three Gorges
dam. Welcome to the press conference of the Foreign Ministry
despite your tight schedule.
Kong then
announced a piece of news. At the invitation of Premier Wen
Jiabao, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Republic
of India will pay an official visit to China from June 22nd
to 27th.
Q: It is said that Foreign
Minster Li Zhaoxing will visit the UK, Portugal and Greece
after his trip to Southeast Asia. Can you confirm it? When
will he leave and what is the purpose of this
visit?
A: Foreign Minister Li
Zhaoxing has a plan to visit Europe after attending the
ASEAN meetings and his visits to Viet Nam, Cambodia and
Thailand. Once the agenda is finalized I will inform you
immediately.
Q: What is your comment
on the bombing incident in Jerusalem on 11th and the
following military actions taken by the Israeli
army?
A: The Chinese side is deeply
concerned with the constant escalation of conflicts between
Israel and Palestine recently and condemns the bombing
incident in Jerusalem on 11th and the following military
retaliation taken by the Israeli army. We strongly urge the
two sides to exercise restraint, stop at once violent acts
and return to the correct track of peaceful negotiation.
Q: On the escalation of conflicts
between Israel and Palestine. You urge the two sides to
exercise restraint so are you placing the organized violence
of the Israeli side on a par with the unorganized individual
violence of the Palestinian side? Do you think that the
response of the international community to the conflicts
between the two sides encourages the Israeli side to act in
violation of the international law?
A: We always condemn any violent act
against civilians. When the Middle East peace is faced with
new opportunity, the conflicts between Israel and Palestine
are nevertheless escalated. We condemn the incidents
yesterday. As to the position of the Chinese Government on
the Middle East question and the conflicts between Israel
and Palestine in particular, I think you must remember that
Chinas special envoy Ambassador Wang Shijie on the
Middle East question, who just visited the region and had
wide contact with both the Palestinian and Israeli sides,
comprehensively introduced Chinas five-point
principled position on the question. The fourth of it says
that the Middle East peace process should be resumed as soon
as possible on the basis of the UN resolutions, the
principle of land for peace decided by the
Madrid Peace Conference and agreements and consensus reached
by all parties concerned. I think the basic point is that
the Israeli side withdraws from the occupying land.
Chinas position on the Middle East question and the
conflicts between Israel and Palestine in particular is
comprehensive and just and acknowledged by all the parties.
We are willing to work with all the parties and hope that
the international community can increase its care of and
input in the Middle East question and thus play a greater
role so as to bring more progress in the Middle East peace
process. The most important now is that parties concerned
should coordinate actively, including both Palestinian and
Israeli sides exercise restraint, stop violence at once,
give up violence for violence and coordinate the
international efforts for peace so as to enable the Middle
East peace process to start as soon as
possible.
Q: European Trade
Commissioner Lamy will visit China from tomorrow. Please
introduce the issues under discussion between China and the
EU?
A: At the invitation of Minister
Lu Fuyuan of Commerce, European Commissioner Lamy will visit
China from tomorrow. During the visit, he will have
important working talks with his Chinese counterpart and the
Chinese leaders will also meet with him. As to the topics of
the meetings, there are two parts according to my knowledge:
one is about the new round of WTO talks and the two sides
need to further contact, coordinate and cooperate with each
other on many specific issues; and the other is about
China-EU economic relations and trade and the two sides can
seek and reach much consensus in this regard. The economic
relations and trade between China and the EU have been
developed rapidly in recent years and the EU has become one
of Chinas biggest trading partner and an important
investor. I believe that the visit is very important and
useful for the further development of the mutually
beneficial cooperation between the two sides in the economic
and trade field.
Q: You have
announced the news of Prime Minister Vajpayees visit.
Please introduce the significance of the visit and who will
he meet with in Beijing?
A: Prime
Minister Vajpayee will pay an official visit to China at the
invitation of Premier Wen Jiabao and he will have talks with
him. I believe that other Chinese leaders will also meet
with him. We are encouraged by the current developments of
the Sino-Indian relations. The relations between the two
countries have been rapidly developed recently and in
particular President Hu met with Prime Minister Vajpayee in
St. Petersburg not long ago who also went there to attend
the 300-year anniversary of the founding of the city. The
meeting is a future-oriented one and the two leaders both
said that they would work together to promote the constant
development of their bilateral relations. Prime Minister
Vajpayee expressed in particular that he was looking forward
to his important and fruitful visit to China. In the
economic and trade field, the mutually beneficial
cooperation between the two countries have developed
rapidly. My memory tells me that the Sino-Indian bilateral
trade exceeds 4.9 billion USD. From January to April,
Sino-Indian trade volume increased by 70% whereas the
overall foreign trade from January to April increased by
39.8%. So you can see 70% is considerable and encouraging.
And the cooperation between the two countries in education,
culture, science and technology has been developed even
quicker. We are fully convinced that the visit will strongly
facilitate the relations between the two countries.
Q: Do you think that Vajpayees
visit will promote peace and development in South Asia? Will
China use its influence and develop its relations with both
India and Pakistan so as to help the two to solve their
disputes?
A: I have said just now
that both the Chinese and Indian sides attach great
importance to the visit by Prime Minister Vajpayee. The two
sides are actively preparing for it and hope that it will be
a success. The Chinese and Indian leaders will exchange
views on international and regional issues during the visit.
It is believed that both sides will reaffirm their
commitment to peace, stability and development in the
region. We are also gratifying to see that the relations
between India and Pakistan have witnessed good momentum of
improvement. India and Pakistan are both Chinas
friendly neighbors and we sincerely hope to see further
relaxation of relations between the two countries and
settlement of existing questions between them through
peaceful dialog so that countries in South Asia and Asia at
large can work together for peace and development in the
region.
Q: When will China reopen its
land ports with its neighbors, e.g. land ports with Pakistan
and Nepal?
A: When time is
appropriate these ports will soon be reopened.
Q: Will the future talks between the
US and the DPRK bilateral or multilateral? How much longer
will the disputes last? When and where do you think the next
round of talks will be held and in which form? What is your
attitude on the US hope to establish a coalition to stop the
DPRKs plan of developing nuclear
weapons?
A: The DPRK nuclear question
touches upon peace, stability and development in the region.
The consensus at the moment is that the Beijing talks are
fruitful and a good beginning of the peaceful settlement of
relevant question. It is hoped that the process can
continue. As to the US consideration you mentioned,
President Bush said during his meeting with President Hu in
Evian not long ago that the US held positively the efforts
that the Chinese side had made in promoting the Beijing
talks and that the US side hoped to solve the DPRK nuclear
question through diplomatic and peaceful means. We maintain
that various parties should make joint efforts to continue
the process of Beijing talks.
As to whether
more countries will participate in the Beijing talks, we
think that it is an important question to maintain peace and
stability on the Korean peninsula. As to how to achieve this
goal, form is not the most important and the Chinese side is
flexible and open towards the form. The key is result and
result of the contact and talks should be conducive to
maintaining peace and stability and denuclearization on the
Korean peninsula.
Q: It is reported
that some countries including Japan, Australia and the US
are discussing blockade and checking measures at sea against
the DPRK. Does the Chinese side think that such discussion
conducive to the settlement of the question? What is your
attitude towards such a plan?
A: I
have not read such report you mentioned. Our basic view is
that the situation on the Korean peninsula is rather
complicated and sensitive and we hope that relevant parties
will not take actions that will further complicate the
situation.
Q: Some athletes from Hong
Kong met with various difficulties in attending the Special
Olympics in Ireland because of SARS and a delegation to
Jamaica encountered the same situation. Will the Foreign
Ministry participate in the settlement of the issue to help
the Chinese athletes to such sports competition? Do you
think that there are other Chinese athletes who meet with
unfair restriction or are banned from taking part in
competition because of SARS?
A: As to
the Special Olympics in Ireland, I remember that I have
mentioned before. It should be said that the fundamental
settlement of the question depends on our control of the
epidemics. This morning Mr. Heyman from the WHO held a joint
press conference with the official from the Ministry of
Public Health and he gave positive comment of Chinas
control of the epidemics. We have contacted the Irish side
many times and hope that it can take into full consideration
of the effective work that Chinas mainland and Hong
Kong have done in controlling the SARS epidemics and adjust
its measures accordingly. It is my knowledge that the
question has been gradually solved. As to the impact on the
Chinese athletes in attending sports events because of SARS,
I remember clearly that all members of the Chinese
delegation were able to take part in the Table Tennis World
Cup held not long ago in Paris and registered good results.
China has made its utmost to control SARS with initial
results. It is believed that the Chinese Government will, as
always, further strengthen its measures in preventing and
controlling SARS and finally win victory over
SARS.
Q: Do you know the exact date of
the visit to China by President Roh Moo-hyun of the ROK?
Another question on Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar. Powell
said that it is time to impose pressure on the Myanmar
Government and he also suggested a stop of trade relations
with Myanmar. What is your position on
it?
A: As to the ROK President Roh
Moo-hyuns visit, the Chinese and the ROK sides are
making active preparation for it. I will inform you in time
once there is definite news.
As to Aung San
Suu Kyi, the Chinese side follows closely the developments
of situation in Myanmar since it is Chinas friendly
neighbor. We think that it, after all, is something between
the Myanmar Government and the opposition and Myanmars
internal affairs. We believe that the people of Myanmar are
capable of handling well the issue and we sincerely hope
that Myanmar will keep social stability and economic
development.
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