China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday declassified a third batch of diplomatic archives dating from 1961 to 1965 containing 41,097 items, almost 70 percent of the archives for the period.

The files include referendums, reports, recorded conversations, telegrams，notes, memoirs and documents signed by state and Party leaders.

Ministry curator of archives Guo Chongli said the declassified dossiers mainly reflected China's principles and positions in bilateral and multilateral diplomatic fields as well as exchanges with other countries.

They contain records of major diplomatic events, including Zhou Enlai's visit to 14 Asian and African nations, the forging of diplomatic ties with Asian and African countries including Laos and Kenya, the settlements of border issues with neighboring countries, the establishment of diplomatic ties with France, the evolution of relations between China and the Soviet Union and the Sino-U.S. ambassadorial talks (rounds 103 to 128).

Under the Archives Law of the People's Republic of China and other regulations, the Foreign Ministry has released about 41,000 archives in the first two batches since 2004 to about 3,400 users, including about 700 foreign users.

"The Foreign Ministry will try its best to complete declassification of the archives from between 1965 to 1977 in the next three years," said Guo. "After that we will declassify the archives on a yearly basis."

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2008)