Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in Beijing Tuesday at a regular news briefing that China has put forward a proposal to the United Nations (UN) Security Council on the Iraqi issue, elaborating on China's goals and principles. 

Liu said the proposal, in the form of a "non-paper", includes the following goals:

l         to improve the security condition in Iraq, resume peace and stability and help the Iraqi people in reconstruction and development;

l         to maintain Iraq's political independence and territorial integrity and establish a new Iraq featuring democracy, openness, ethnic unity and neighborhood;

l         to help Iraq re-enter the international community and keep peace and stability in the Gulf region;

l         to create conditions for the international community to participate in Iraqi reconstruction and for the UN to play an important role.

As for the principles on the Iraqi issue, Liu said they are:

l         to respect the Iraqi people's will, choice and rights for the future of their country and to make the Iraqi people govern Iraq;

l         to settle the Iraqi issue within the framework of the UN and support the efforts made by the UN secretary-general and its representatives;

l         to hear voices from Iraq when it comes to the Security Council's related resolutions;

l         to respect all nations' legitimate rights in Iraq and address reasonable concerns of Iraq's neighboring countries and Arabic countries;

l         to respect, safeguard and promote human rights in Iraq.

Liu said that China supports the UN Security Council to adopt a new resolution on Iraq.

According to Liu, recently Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing talked by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Colin Powell respectively and exchanged opinions with them on relevant issues.

Li also expressed China's proposition and concern in the phone conversations.

Liu said China is carefully studying the draft resolution presented by the United States and Britain to the UN Security Council.

China will continue to participate in the council's discussion and consultation with an active and constructive attitude, he said, adding that China hopes council members will exchange in-depth views and widely hear the opinions of all parties, especially the views of Iraq and other Arab countries as well as the opinion of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

China hopes that relevant parties will reach consensus at an early date, and create conditions for an early realization of "Iraqi people governing Iraq" and a full play of the UN's role, Liu said.   

In another development, the spokesman said China firmly opposes the US House of Representatives' passage of the defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2005, which contains anti-China provisions, and has made solemn representation to the US side.

The anti-China items, which demand sales of landing vessels to Taiwan and high-level military educational exchanges between the United States and Taiwan, together with similar amendments put forward by some people of the US Senate, posed a severe violation of the three Sino-US joint communiqués and the one-China policy the US government has reiterated many times that it will abide by, said Liu.

China urges the US administration to clearly oppose these provisions and amendments, adopt effective measures to prevent them from being made into law, in order to prevent possible harm to Sino-US relations, he said.

The spokesman on Tuesday also urges Japan to treat seriously and handle properly the issues left over by history, including the forced laborers issue.

A high court in Japan on Monday denied redress to a group of 15 Chinese men forced to work in Japanese coal mines during World War II amid a series of lawsuits former Chinese forced laborers have filed in Japan.

"The forced labor is one of the gravest crimes committed by Japanese militarists during the Japanese War of Aggression Against China, and China urges the Japanese government to handle properly the issue in a responsible way," Liu said.

The Fukuoka High Court rejected the demand for compensation because of limitation of actions, thus overturning the Fukuoka District Court ruling in April 2002 that ordered Mitsui Mining to pay 10 million yen for each forced worker.

In the Fukuoka High Court suit, the 15 Chinese men, now in their 70s and 80s, demanded 23 million yen each in compensation to be paid by the state and the company, as well as apologies to be published in newspapers.

While asked to comment on Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's five-day official visit to China, which concluded Monday, Liu said Khai's visit is successful and will facilitate further development of the Sino-Vietnamese relationship.

Liu said Khai and Chinese leaders held in-depth discussions and frankly exchanged views on the bilateral relationship and issues of common concern.

Both sides reiterated that the two countries will, guided by the principles of "long-term stability, future orientation, good-neighborly friendship and comprehensive cooperation," expand exchanges, deepen the mutual trust, seek sincere cooperation and have shared development, to raise their good-neighborly and friendly cooperation to a new level.

Economic cooperation was the focus of all the discussions. The Chinese side put forward a package of suggestions, which were agreed to and welcomed by Khai, said Liu.

Both sides have agreed on four principles, which are: strengthening high-level contacts, and forging stronger political ties; enhancing all-round trade and economic cooperation in all spheres to double trade volume by 2010; expanding local and non-governmental contacts and exploring multi-channel cooperation to consolidate their traditional friendship; and taking the whole situation into account and properly resolving problems existing in their relations.

When asked to comment on the new Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark that developing a relationship with China will be the foreign policy priority of India's new government, Liu said the Sino-Indian bilateral relationship faces important opportunities and China is willing to work together with the new Indian government to take them and push forward their long-term constructive cooperative partnership.

China endorses the prime minister's positive perspective on the Sino-Indian relationship and has highlighted the friendly cooperation with India, a very important neighbor of China, said the spokesman.

The Sino-Indian bilateral relationship has entered a new phase of all-round progress and faces important opportunities for development, Liu noted. China hopes and believes that the two governments will work together to maintain the good momentum and advance the long-term constructive cooperative partnership between the two countries. 

Also at yesterday's briefing, the spokesman announced Eritrean Foreign Minister Ali Seid Abdellah will pay an official visit to China from May 26 to 30 at the invitation of Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2004)