Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told yesterday's regular news conference: "We support any effort that is beneficial to settling the Iraq issue politically" within the UN framework.

China also held Iraq should cooperate with the UN actively and further explain and clarify the relevant problems, Zhang said.

Turning to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, Zhang indicated that China stands for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and insists on maintaining peace and stability in the region and resolving the issue peacefully through dialogue.

"The key to the resolution of the issue is to ensure the non-nuclearization of the peninsula and to resolve the security concerns of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)," said Zhang, adding that the 1994 Agreed Framework between the United States and the DPRK is an important basis in relaxing the tensions on the peninsula.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to decide today whether to refer the nuclear issue to the United Nations Security Council.

Zhang yesterday also urged Japan to face up to the facts of its history of invasion. "We hope that the Japanese side will carry out concrete actions to educate its young generation," she said.

Her remarks came after the reports that some Japanese publishers had attempted to cut down the number of Chinese victims in the Nanjing Massacre, in which more than 300,000 Chinese were killed in December 1937 and January 1938.

(China Daily February 12, 2003)