Just six days ahead the long-expected second round of six-way talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said China hopes the talks will go smoothly and make substantial progress.  

At a regular press conference in Beijing Thursday, Zhang said substantial issues will be discussed during the talks, and the heads of the delegations to the talks have been fixed.

The talks, to begin on Feb. 25, involve China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and Japan.

Zhang said Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi will head the Chinese delegation to the talks.

According to information provided by related parties, the heads of the other five delegations are Kim Kye-gwan, deputy foreign minister of the DPRK, Mitoji Yabunaka, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Lee Soo-Hyuck, the ROK's deputy minister of foreign affairs and trade, Alexander Losiukov, Russian deputy foreign minister, and James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs of the United States.

Zhang said the parties concerned expect to fix the consensus reached so far in written form, which depends on the progress of the talks.

The second round of six-party talks is a key step toward resolving the nuclear issue through dialogue, said Zhang, adding that the parties concerned should continue to show sincerity and participate in the talks on the basis of mutual respect and consultations on an equal footing. 

China believes that the six-party talks mechanism will be conducive to maintaining the peace and stability of the peninsula and realizing a nuclear-free peninsula, said Zhang. China has made a lot of efforts to start the second round of talks, the spokeswoman added.

The international community, including the United Nations, the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has also played an active role in reopening the new talks, said Zhang.

Regarding the issue of abduction of Japanese citizens to the DPRK, Zhang said that the issue, which involves the DPRK and Japan, should be handled properly through bilateral channels.

The fresh round of the talks is scheduled to begin Feb. 25 in Beijing. The first round of the six-party talks lasted three days from Aug. 27 to 29, 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2004)