US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said he was not in Beijing to pressure anybody on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue，speaking to reporters at a hotel on Tuesday evening following his talks with Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai..

 

Hill is his country's lead negotiator on the six-party talks, which aim to resolve the Korean peninsula nuclear issue.

 

He said his talks with Cui did not concentrate on the six-party talks, but covered a wide range of issues, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

 

The negotiator, however, said his scheduled talks on Wednesday with Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, China's chief negotiator in the six-party talks, would focus on the nuclear issue.

 

"It's time for us to work together to have the six-party talks back on the diplomatic track," he said.

 

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang Tuesday afternoon urged all sides to the six-party talks to create favorable conditions for an early resumption of the mechanism.

 

The six-party talks, involving China, the Republic of Korea, the DPRK, the United States, Russia and Japan, remained stalled since the last round of meeting in Beijing last November.

 

The last round of talks ended up with a Chairman's Statement, in which the parties agreed to resume the talks as soon as possible.

 

"China has done great work to try to bring back all the other parties back to the six-party talks, and we will see what we can do to achieve more," Hill said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2006)