During his talks with visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing Monday morning, Tang discussed bilateral relations and current major international issues with Powell. Tang said the talks were wide ranging and constructive.

Tang said big changes in the international situation had brought new opportunities and challenges to Sino-US relations. In line with the consensus reached between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and US President George W. Bush at Crawford in the United States, China was ready to join efforts with the United States to deepen mutual understanding, strengthen cooperation and boost constructive and cooperative relations with the United States, he said.

He said China would welcome a visit by US Vice-President Richard Cheney to China this spring. He expressed the belief that Cheney's visit to China would achieve positive results.

Tang said the Taiwan issue was at the core of China's interests, and properly handling this issue was the key to guaranteeing the stable development of bilateral relations. To avoid possible disruption to Sino-US relations, China called for the United States to strictly abide by the one-China policy, the three Sino-US joint communiqués and all its commitments to China on the Taiwan issue, he said.

Powell said bilateral relations had made great progress over the past year or more. The two sides had cooperated well in such fields as high-ranking dialogues, personnel exchanges, anti-terrorism, economy and trade, he said.

Powell said Vice-President Cheney was expecting to visit China soon. He said the United States was ready to strengthen its cooperative relations with China.

He said the United States recognized the significance of the Taiwan issue to China. It would adhere to the one-China policy, abide by the three US-Sino joint communiqués and would never support any activity for "Taiwan Independence", he said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2003)