On the afternoon of March 23, 2006, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang held a regular press conference.

Qin: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have several announcements to make:

At the invitation of Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia John Howard, Prime Minister of Republic of Fiji Islands Laisenia Qarase, Prime Minister of New Zealand Clark and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia Hun Sen, Premier of State Council Wen Jiabao will pay official visits to the four countries from April 1st to 8th and attend the opening ceremony of the first session of "China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum" to be held in Fiji. I made this announcement yesterday.

In order to help the friends from the press to better understand the visit by Premier Wen to the four countries and his attendance at the international conference, the IPC will hold a briefing on the afternoon of March 27th (Monday) at 2:00 o'clock in the press hall. Director-General Liu Jieyi of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs and Director-General Hu Zhengyue of the Department of Asian Affairs will be invited to share with you information on that and answer questions from the press. You are welcome to participate. We will put up this notice on the website of IPC.

At the invitation of Chinese Foreign Ministry, Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masha, Ambassador-at-Large of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Brunei Darussalam, will visit China from April 3rd to 9th.

The floor is now open for questions.

Q: Today, the White House announced the date of President Hu Jintao's visit to the US. What is the main goal of President Hu's visit?

A: At the invitation of US President Bush, President Hu Jintao will pay a state visit to the US in mid or late April. President Hu is looking forward to exchanging ideas with President Bush on China-US relations and major international and regional issues of common interest. Both sides are making preparation for this visit. We will make official announcement at an appropriate time in line with our usual practice.

This visit is agreed upon by China and US, especially by our two leaders last year with the aim to enhance mutual trust and expand common ground to further promote the development of China-US constructive and cooperative relations in the 21st century.

Q: What have been achieved during President Putin's visit? Can you confirm that China has already invited President Putin to attend the Economic and Trade Fair in Harbin in June?

A: Russian President Putin paid a state visit to China from March 21 to 22. He had an in-depth exchange of ideas with President Hu on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common interest and reached broad consensus. The two leaders signed the Joint Statement between China and Russia together and attended the opening ceremony of "Russian Year in China" and the ceremony of China-Russia Economic and Business Summit Forum and made speeches respectively. President Putin also met with Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, Premier Wen Jiabao and other Chinese leaders. During his visit, our two sides signed 22 documents on cooperation in the fields such as politics, diplomacy, energy, investment, finance, transportation, and communication with productive results.

President Putin's visit this year took place on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of China-Russia strategic and cooperative partnership and the 5th anniversary of China-Russia Agreement on Good-neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, which is of special significance. During the visit, the two leaders formally launched the activities for "Russian Year in China". To hold the activities of "Russian Year in China" and "Chinese Year in Russia" is a pioneering work in our bilateral relations and an embodiment of China-Russia strategic and cooperative partnership. It is of great real and historical significance for the enhancement of mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples and the promotion of the cooperation in various fields.

During President Putin's visit, Chinese and foreign press paid great attention to China-Russia bilateral cooperation and made full coverage in this regard. You may have noticed that there emerged some new ideas in expanding China-Russia bilateral cooperation. For example, President Hu Jintao proposed to have the coordination of our economic development strategy as the direction for deepening our bilateral cooperation. He proposed to offer vigorous guidance and support for the efforts at regional or enterprise level to explore new opportunities and fields for cooperation, so as to realize mutually-beneficial, win-win and common development. President Putin agreed with President Hu Jintao on his proposal.

We believe that President Putin's visit is a successful and productive one and it will forcefully promote the development of China-Russia strategic and cooperative partnership.

As to whether China has invited President Putin to attend the economic and trade fair in Harbin, I will have a double-check for you.

Q: What's your comment on the Spanish secessionist organization ETA's declaration yesterday for a permanent ceasefire? The US Assistant Secretary overseeing Latin American Affairs Shannon will visit China in early April. What are the main topics for his visit? Does China think that the interests of China and the US collide in Latin America?

A: We have taken note that the Spanish secessionist organization ETA just declared a permanent ceasefire. The successive Spanish governments have made unremitting efforts to solve the ETA issue to realize domestic peace. We believe that the Spanish Government has the ability and wisdom to appropriately solve the issue.

At the invitation of Mr. Zeng Gang, Director General of the Department of Latin America of Chinese Foreign Ministry, the US Assistant Secretary overseeing Latin American Affairs Shannon will visit China in mid April. During his stay in China, he will hold the first session of China-US Counterpart Consultation with Director General Zeng Gang. The two sides will exchange views and ideas on their own relations with Latin American countries, their policy to Latin America, the overall situation in that region, and China-US cooperation in Latin America. This is part of the Sino-US Strategic Dialogue arrangements which began from last year, and it will enhance the understanding and trust between the two.

In recent years, the relations between China and Latin American countries have been developing rapidly. The fundamental reason for it is that both China and Latin American countries are both developing countries. They have broad common interests and aspirations on the question of peace and development. Developing China-Latin America relations complies with the current world trend of seeking peace and development and promoting cooperation. It also accords with the fundamental interest of countries concerned. It bears no marks of ideology and is not directed to any third party. It is solely for the promotion of world peace, stability and common development and will not impair the interest of any other country. We are willing to exchange views with the US on the overall situation of Latin America and our cooperation in that area.

Q: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mr. Guterres concluded his visit to China today. What's China's comment on the visit?

A: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mr. Guterres just concluded his visit to China. China attached great importance to the visit. State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Public Security met with him. The two sides enhanced mutual understanding through a number of meetings and consultations, and reached much consensus on furthering their cooperation in the field of refugees. This is a successful visit. Mr. Guterres also made positive comment on this visit.

Q: Japan said this morning that it will freeze the 2005 Yen loan to China. What's your comment on that?

A: According to the consensus reached by China and Japan, putting a satisfactory end to the Yen loan to China comply with the interest of both sides. The unilateral decision by the Japanese government is not conducive to the improvement of the atmosphere of the Sino-Japanese relations.

Q: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mr. Guterres said this morning that China is creating a legal system to handle the refugee issue. Can you tell me which department is formulating this system? When will it be passed? Is it the first time that China formulates such laws and regulations?

A: China has always attached importance to the cooperation with the UN Refugee Agency and entered into the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the protocol attached in 1982. China has always participated in the international cooperation of refugees. China has settled 300,000 Indo-china refugees, which was the largest refugee settlement operation in international refugee history. China has also been considering ways to improve relevant legal systems to better reflect China's dedicated attitude to solve the refugee issues. Since involves a juridical procedure, it will take some time.

Q: A question on US Senator Schumer's visit to China. What message did China convey to him? How will it impact on US decision to impose punitive duty on China?

A: At last press conference, I have briefed on the arrangements of the visit of three US senators, including Schumer, and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing's meeting with them. As far as I am concerned, Vice Premier Wu Yi just met with them.

Concerning the issues that the senators are concerned about, China gave them a detailed account on the development of China and our view and proposition on China-US relations, the trade and economic relations between us and the RMB exchange rate. We underscore that China-US trade and economic relations have made remarkable progress over the past 20 years, which is a hard-won achievement, serve the interests of our two sides and have brought tangible benefits to our people. We should cherish and preserve the achievement by viewing China-US relations from a strategic perspective and our trade and economic relations with a far-reaching vision. As for the problems or frictions, we should handle through dialogue and consultation with a positive attitude and in line with the principle of equality, mutual benefit and common development. We should not resort to pressure or politicize and overstate the issue. This will not help resolve the issue completely. Nor is it in the interest of our two sides. We believe this visit will help the three senators have a more objective understanding of the reality in China and the trade and economic relations between our two countries. We also hope they will take more proper measures to solve the issues.

Q: At Premier Wen's press conference, he declared 10 billion-dollar concessional loans for the underdeveloped countries without any conditions attached. Does it include the poor countries in Africa and Latin America that recognize Taiwan?

A: Last week, I answered a question on this issue. China will grant some underdeveloped countries 10 billion-dollar concessional loans, to help them with their economic development and poverty alleviation. As to how to allot the loans, we will have consultations through bilateral or multilateral channels. It has to be pointed out that there is but one China in the world and to recognize the one China principle is a general trend in the world. We hope the countries still with so-called "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan can have a clear vision of the situation and make a wise decision in conformity with the trend of time. We are willing to develop normal state-to-state relations with them on the basis of the UN Charter and the five principles of peaceful coexistence. But an important political premise is recognizing and pursuing the one China principle. This is what China is concerned about.

Q: Recently, Japan submitted to the Fifth Committee of the UN General Assembly a proposal on modifying the scale of assessments, maintaining that a 3% minimum and 5% maximum limit should be set up for permanent members of the Security Council. What's China's comment?

A: Japan's proposal on the scale of assessments attempts to deny the worldly recognized principle of "capability to pay" with its concept of "responsibility to pay." The Chinese Government is firmly opposed to it.

Japan's proposal is essentially trying to link the financial contributions with power, so as to pave its way to buy power with cash. This will shake the root of the basic principle of equal sovereignty for all countries, which is stipulated by the UN Charter, and gravely undermined the interest of the developing countries.

The principle of "capability to pay" is a basic principle in determining the UN assessments scale. It has long been proven effective through practices and drawn forth broadest consensus. Therefore, this principle admits of no alteration.

China has been kept on the track on economic development, but its income per capita is still standing at a low level. Despite of this fact, China ranks the ninth in term of scale of assessments and has always been faithfully honored its budgetary obligation in the UN. It pays its financial contributions in due time and commits itself to some of the apportioned cost relieved from other countries in peacekeeping budget, thus making important contribution to the UN budget as a whole. Along with China's economic development, we are ready to make greater contribution.

The issue of scale of assessments bears on whether the UN will function effectively and the interest of member states. We expect a fair and rational plan to be reached on the basis of broad consultation and in line with the UN Charter and the relevant principle.

Q: During President Putin's visit to China, did President Hu Jintao and President Putin discuss the Iranian nuclear issue? Did the two sides reach new consensus or put forward new idea?

A: During President Putin's visit to China, leaders of the two countries exchanged views on the Iranian nuclear issue and reached consensus, that is, the Iranian nuclear issue should be solved through diplomatic negotiation. Both of our two sides stand for an early solution of the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic means and negotiation and hope to see all parties concerned show patience and flexibility, so as to make progress on this issue at an early date. China supports Russia in its active effort to solve the issue in a peaceful and proper way.

Q: It is reported that Chinese companies continued to deplete the forest in Myanmar. What measures have China taken to crack down on the illegal logging along Myanmar's border? Did China and Myanmar sign any agreements to curb the illegal activities?

A: Some Chinese companies lumber in Myanmar, and most of their business is operated in line with the contracts or agreements between the companies of the two countries and in accordance with local laws and regulations. It is undeniable that a handful of companies and individuals engaged in illegal logging under the incentive of interest. The Chinese Government attaches great importance to this problem. We require all Chinese companies and individuals to abide by the laws and regulations of Myanmar and not to disturb the normal order for trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. We will punish the offenses according to law. Meanwhile, we stay in contact and consultation with Myanmar on this issue for the sake of proper handling. I have not heard of any new agreements between China and Myanmar. I can help find out something about it.

If no more questions are waiting, thank you for attending. See you!