Led by Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Avis Bohlen, the US delegation reached Beijing on Sunday to explain Bush's decision to pull out of the 1972 ABM Treaty.

During their meeting, Chinese officials reiterated China's stance on the ABM treaty, emphasizing the importance of maintaining international arms control, disarmament and world stability, Zhang said.

Both sides agreed to continue dialogues on keeping strategic stability, she added.

Also on Sunday, Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Guangya held a fourth diplomatic consultation with his Russian counterpart, Georgy Mamedov, in Moscow, exchanging in-depth opinions on topics involving the international security situation, arms control and disarmament issues, she said.

The two sides stressed global strategic balance and stability are vital to international peace and safety, agreeing to conduct close consultations on the above issues in the future, she added.

Commenting on reports that China and Israel conducted negotiations on Sunday on the issue of Israel's cancellation of its sale of the early-warning radar system to China, Zhang said China's stance is consistent, and hopes the "relevant sides" take responsibility and find an early, satisfactory solution to avoid undermining bilateral relations.

"It is a basic principle of state-to-state relations that agreements and understandings between them should be honoured," said Zhang.

Israel decided to cave in to US pressure and scrap its plan to sell China a US$250 million early-warning radar system last year.

When answering an inquiry on the trade row between China and Japan, Zhang said: "We hope both sides can exercise prudence and solve the dispute calmly through friendly negotiations."

(China Daily December 19, 2001)