Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kong Quan said at Tuesday's regular news briefing that China is pleased that the Iraqi elections were carried out on schedule.  

"We think the elections are an important step towards the reconstruction of Iraq," he said. "We hope the elections will help to stabilize the Iraqi situation, realize the will of Iraqi people to become masters of their country, and push forward the reconstruction process."

When asked to comment on Nepali King Gyanendra's Tuesday announcement of dissolving the coalition government led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and forming a new government under his own "chairmanship," Kong called the king's decision "an internal affair of Nepal," adding that China respects the choice of Nepalese in developing their own country and sincerely wishes the nation to realize social security, economic development and ethnic pacification.

Kong also said China has welcomed Nepal's last week decision to close the Dalai Lama's representative office in Katmandu.

"We believe this is a just decision made by the Nepalese government in accordance with its sovereignty and maintaining its sovereignty," he said.

Commenting on the two-day closed-door China-US defense policy meeting that began Monday, Kong said it is important for the two countries to hold talks on military relations.

He said they discussed the plan for military exchanges this year. Both believe that frank, cooperative and constructive bilateral military ties are conducive to world peace.

He said the two sides have also agreed that the Taiwan question is crucial in the development of bilateral military ties.

The two sides did not discuss the EU's proposed plan to lift a 15-year-long arms embargo against China in 2005.

Washington opposes lifting the ban for fear that European arms could be used against US forces should they be called upon to defend Taiwan, reports said.

Kong said that US opposition is unreasonable.

"We have a hope that on this issue, third parties, including the US, will not stand in the way and will conform with the natural trend," he said.

Kong also said China hopes the US and Japan will make more contributions to regional stability and understanding.

Japanese media reports that the US and Japan are poised to revise defense guidelines, which focus on Taiwan.

Kong said China hopes both countries will be cautious when dealing with those issues.

Turning to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Kong said China has proposed holding working-level talks to pave the way for early resumption of the six-party talks.

He said that all parties could elaborate on their positions and solve their differences.

"These kind of working group meetings are conducive to the restarting of the talks and gaining achievement," he said.

He said China is willing to exert its utmost efforts to promote anything that is helpful for the early resumption of the talks.

Kong said China has always been engaged in "very close contacts with all parties concerned" and hoped that a "suitable atmosphere and conditions" would be created to restart the negotiations.

On Monday, newly appointed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed the US' desire to restart talks in telephone conversations with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

Kong said this was the first official phone call contact between the senior officials in charge of foreign affairs in the two countries after Rice's appointment.

Kong also announced that State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan left Beijing Tuesday morning for a four-day visit to Moscow.

He said Tang was scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and other senior officials, with the six-party talks likely to be discussed.

Meanwhile, Kong urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Japan to resolve their differences over the historical problems through talks and negotiations.

The issues include Japan's forcible drafting of Koreans for forced labor during World War II.

Tension between the two countries has escalated recently when Japan threatened to impose sanctions against the DPRK.

In another development, Kong hailed positive remarks made by Indian officials at the Seventh Asian Security Conference, which spoke highly of Sino-Indian relations.

He said Sino-Indian ties have maintained stable development in recent years and have entered into a new stage of full development.

"China is willing to join hands with India in efforts to push forward a friendly cooperative bilateral relationship on the base of mutual benefit," he said.

Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh last Thursday said that both India and China were aware that trust and cooperation between them "are part of the most crucial elements that make our region and Asia a vibrant and energetic fulcrum for growth." He was inaugurating the conference in New Delhi. China and India held their first strategic dialogue successfully on January 24 there.

Moving on to the Darfur issue, Kong said China hopes the international community not to merely impose pressure and sanctions against Sudan given the present situation.

"To resolve the Darfur issue requires joint efforts of the international community and the Sudanese government," he said, adding that peace process has shown its signs at present in Sudan and African leaders have reached a basic consensus on this point at the just-concluded fourth summit of African Union (AU) held between January 30-31 in Nigerian capital Abuja.

China has been paying attention to the Darfur issue, and "has always hoped and urged the Sudanese government to ease up the humanitarian situation in the Darfur region as soon as possible with the help of international community," he said.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, also the chairman of the 53-member AU, said on January 31 in Abuja that peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels in Darfur will resume in Abuja in the middle of February.

Also at yesterday's briefing, Kong said China will fully participate in the commemorative activities of 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.

He said the commemorative activities are significant for maintaining peace and stability in the world.

He said China will take part in a grand celebration in Moscow in May.

(CRI.com, China Daily, Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2005)