China is pleased to see the progress in the development of Sino-US ties in recent years, and is willing to work with the US side to further promote the bilateral constructive and cooperative relationship, said Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong in Beijing Tuesday.  

Zeng made the remarks in talks with his US counterpart Dick Cheney, who arrived here Tuesday on a three-day working visit to China as Zeng's guest.

Zeng said both China and the United States are great nations, and their common interests overwhelm their differences.

The two sides share wide-ranging common interests and a cooperative basis, whether in safeguarding the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region and the whole world and promoting regional and global economic development, or in dealing with terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crimes and diseases, said Zeng.

Zeng said the trade disputes between China and the United States are normal and China has taken steps to resolve them such as dispatching procurement groups to the United States to increase China's imports since the end of last year.

China has taken a reasonable approach to solving the Sino-US trade disputes and will seriously carry out the rules of the World Trade Organization and its commitments, said Zeng.

He also mentioned that the Sino-US trade volume increased by about 50 times in the past 25 years, and there is still great potential for further growth.

Zeng introduced the Chinese government's principled stance on the Taiwan issue. He said the very fact of the Taiwan issue is that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China, and the election result in the island could not change that fact.

Zeng said the Chinese government will continuously adhere to the policy of peaceful reunification and "one country, two systems", and will spare no efforts to settle the Taiwan issue in a peaceful way, but will never tolerate the "Taiwan Independence."

Zeng urged the US side to honor its commitments, stop selling weapons to Taiwan and not send any "wrong signals" to the "Taiwan Independence" forces.

Cheney said the United States does not support "Taiwan Independence" and is against any unilateral action by either side to change the existing situation across the Taiwan Straits.

The United States realized the importance of the Taiwan issue to US-China relations and the US policy on that question has not changed at all, Cheney said, adding that the US side sticks to the one-China policy based on the three joint communiqués between the two countries.

The two leaders agreed that the anti-terrorism experts of the two nations will hold their fourth round of consultations in June.

They also agreed to continue to strengthen high-level strategic dialogues and contacts at other levels, promote military contacts, and enhance exchanges and cooperation in the anti-terrorism, trade and law enforcement sectors.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2004)