China and Russia will hold a joint military exercise in the next half of this year, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday without specifying the date or location.  

Kong Quan said at yesterday's regular news briefing that a senior Russian military officer, leading a military expert panel, arrived in Beijing on February 1. "They have discussed details of the exercise with senior officers of the Headquarters of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army," he said.

The two sides would keep in contact and further discuss more details, he added.

He said the joint military exercise is a result of the all-around strategic cooperation partnership between China and Russia. The two countries have common interests in all spheres, including efforts to maintain world peace, and they need more exchanges, cooperation and dialogue to cope with some shared challenges.

In another development, Kong denied that China had provided US$6 billion for Russia's Rosneft to purchase Yuganskneftegaz, a major subsidiary of Yukos, the scandal-plagued Russian oil company.

China did not provide funds to Rosneft to buy Yuganskneftegaz, but the Foreign Ministry could not confirm whether there were any loans involved, he said.

It was reported that Russia's Vnesheconom Bank had borrowed the loan from Chinese banks to credit Rosneft for the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz, which was put up for auction in December to raise money for the payment of Yukos' multi-billion-dollar back tax bill.

Rosneft had paid US$9.4 billion for the acquisition of Yuganskneftegaz after it purchased Baikalfinans Group, the previously unknown company that unexpectedly won the bid for Yuganskneftegaz, which produces 60 percent of Yukos' output.

The sale has been considered as a key stage of the year-and-a-half judicial campaign against Yukos.

Following US President George W. Bush's first State of the Union address since his reelection, Kong said China hopes the US will play a more active role in promoting world peace and development.

He said "China and the US will build on their agreement reached at the San Diego Summit last year to have more dialogues and enhance cooperation."

He reiterated China's consistent stance on the Taiwan question, which is the core issue between China and the US.

"Since the US deeply understands China's standpoint on the Taiwan question, China hopes the US can solve it smoothly by adhering to the three joint communiqués and the one-China policy and opposing 'Taiwan independence,'" he said.

Responding Bush's call for democratic reforms abroad, Kong said the Chinese people will firmly stick to their own democratic process. 

He said that China has made great progress in democratic and legal reforms and that Chinese people are confident about the future.

Kong also criticized US' opposition towards lifting the 15-year-old European arms embargo against China.

He said the EU embargo is an "already out-of-date" Cold War remnant.

"It is also not conducive to the furthering of Sino-EU strategic relations," he said.

He said lifting the ban does not mean that China would necessarily buy weapons from the EU.

"It is totally unnecessary for the US to obstruct the lifting of the arms embargo," he said.

On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives voted 411-3 for a resolution that calls on the Bush administration to press European leaders at an upcoming meeting to reconsider proposals to lift the embargo and instead to "work expeditiously to close any gaps" in it.

In his State of the Union address Bush described Iran as the "world's primary state sponsor of terror." He said Washington is "working with European allies to make clear to the Iranian regime that it must give up its uranium enrichment program and any plutonium reprocessing, and end its support for terrorism."

When asked to comment on Bush's remarks, Kong said the Chinese government always upholds that disputes between different countries should be solved through dialogue, and should accord with the UN charter and principles on international relations.

He added that it is China's stand that the Iran nuclear issue should be solved within the IAEA framework.

Michael Green, Asian affairs director of Bush's National Security Council, called for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to return to the six-party talks soon when he visited Seoul on Wednesday.

In response to Green's call, Kong said China, the host of the talks, has always been engaged in "very close contacts and communications with other five sides" and has made unswerving efforts to promote the early resumption of the talks.

Kong said negotiations are facing some difficulties and all the parties concerned have made preparations to push forward the process by overcoming issues before them.

He said all sides should show more sincerity and flexibility to create suitable conditions and an atmosphere for restarting negotiations.

He said China hopes to receive active responses from the other parties.

Green traveled to Seoul after two days in Beijing.

He spoke with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, Director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Chen Yunlin and other senior officials, addressing the Sino-US relationship and matters of mutual concern.

Kong said Green passed on a letter from Bush to President Hu Jintao but declined to provide details.

In response to reports that the US Senate may propose a bill to impose a six-month deadline on China to revalue its currency, Kong said doing so cannot help resolve differences between the two countries.

"Every country's economic and financial policies are established and implemented in accordance to their own specific situations," he said.

He said the Chinese government always holds to the opinion that to ensure and maintain the rapid, healthy and stable development of China's economy helps not only China but also mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation with Asia and other countries.

He said Finance Minister Jin Renqing and the People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan will attend the G7 conference in London this week with the topic of the Chinese currency exchange rate likely to be touched upon.

When asked to comment on the reported Japanese deployment of troops near Diaoyu Islands, Kong reiterated that China and Japan should resolve the dispute through negotiation and consultation.

"No unilateral action should be taken," he said.

He also asked the reporter from Kyodo News Service to clarify his question when he was using the expression "Senkaku Islands," and the reporter then changed it to "Diaoyu Islands."

China and Japan have disputed the boundary demarcation of the East China Sea. Kong said China holds its own position and views on this issue, and exercises its own power according to that view.

Turning to Nepal, Kong said China respects the Nepali people's decision to choose their own path of development and hopes its neighbor is able to achieve national reconciliation and economic development.

However, the spokesperson expressed indignation at foreign media who call Nepal's anti-government rebels "Maoists," which stains the memory of the late Chairman Mao Zedong.

Nepali King Gyanendra announced Tuesday that he had dissolved the coalition government led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and formed his own.

Nepal's new Home Minister Dan Bahadur Shahi has called on anti-government rebels to resume peace talks with the government as soon as possible. 

Kong welcomed the proposed restart to the Mideast peace process by holding a peace summit next week in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

He said China hopes achievements can be made during this summit.

He noted that although the region is filled with conflicts at present, Mideast countries should make their own decisions on how to solve their problems.

Palestine, Israel, Egypt and Jordan will participate in the summit, at which Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to meet.

Kong said China always supports the mission of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to promote the regional economy, culture and social development, and hopes to cooperate with it on various matters including anti-terrorism.

The 13th SAARC summit in Dhaka has been postponed, after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cancelled his travel for security reasons. 

Turning to the Darfur issue, Kong said China expects the Sudanese government to take more measures to solve the crisis and believes the African Union can play an active role. 

He said that China pays attention to the development of the issue, and has always urged the Sudanese government to further relieve the humanitarian situation in the Darfur region.

China does not support those in the international community who want to impose sanctions on Sudan, as China believes the Sudanese government's efforts have yielded results, he said.

The Sudanese parliament has unanimously ratified a peace agreement with the rebels in southern Sudan, and at the recent African Union summit, leaders reached a consensus on the Darfur crisis.

Also at yesterday's briefing, Kong said that foreign tourists needn't worry about the meningitis epidemic in some parts of China, and that their health will be protected.

He said the Chinese government and health departments at all levels are strengthening prevention efforts against meningitis and measures have also been taken to prevent the disease from spreading to other countries.

Up to now, China has reported 258 cases of meningitis in 24 regions in the past month, and 16 people have died of the disease.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, CRI.com February 4, 2005)