Japanese leaders should stop worshipping war criminals and hurting the feelings of people in China and other nations having suffered from Japanese invasions during World War II, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said Tuesday at a press conference held on the sideline of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

"The crucial problem challenging China-Japan relations now is that certain Japanese leaders still insist on paying homage to WWII Class-A war criminals," Li said, adding that the action cannot be accepted by the Chinese people and wartime victims of many other nations.

"This is a issue of very serious nature," he stressed.

Talking about the fourth round of East China Sea consultation between Chinese and Japanese diplomatic officials, which concluded in Beijing today, Li said, "It was pragmatic and constructive."

"The two sides have agreed to launch the next round of consultation as early as possible," he added.

China-US relations

President Hu Jintao is going to visit the US soon, Li told the press.

"We are ready to work with the US side to strengthen mutual understanding, expand common ground, deepen mutual trust, promote cooperation, and properly settle our differences with a view to promoting the sound development of bilateral relations," he said.

Li stressed that the Taiwan issue is the "biggest" factor affecting China-US relations, expressing the hope that the US side sticks to the one-China policy, observes the three China-US joint communiqués, has a clear understanding of the dangerous nature of "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces and activities, and takes concrete measures to oppose such attempts.

He called on the US side not to send wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" secessionists and work together with China to safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and the overall interests in China-US relations.

The US should not politicize its trade relations with China, Li said, adding that the two countries should solve trade problems under the framework of the World Trade Organization.

The trade between the two countries reached US$211.6 billion in 2005, up 24.8 percent year-on-year, he said.

Referring to the trade imbalance between the two sides, he noted that China does not pursue surplus in its trade with the US, and it is "ready to take positive measures" to solve the problem.

However, Li pointed out that the restriction on export items to China was to be partially blamed for US deficit in its trade with China.

"Besides its Boeing planes, the US only wants to sell its soybean, cotton and orange to China. For those more valuable items, it doesn't like to sell because they are regarded as 'high-tech' products or civilian-military goods," he said.

Li said China's export to the US can help curb inflation and create 4-8 million jobs in the country.

Also, consumers in the US have benefited from the import of Chinese products, which are cheap and also in good quality, he added.

Li said China has become a fastest growing market for the US export, noting that China is now the largest importer of soybean and cotton from the US.

Talking about the issue of intellectual property rights (IPR) for which the US side has been deeply concerned, Li said China has taken measures in legislative, judicial, law-enforcement and education fields to strengthen IPR protection.

He said in 2005 alone, China's industrial and commercial authorities dealt with more than 39,000 trademark infringement cases, and Chinese courts heard more than 3,500 IPR-related cases.

China-Russia relations

At the invitation of President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to visit China later this month, according to Li.

"The visit is expected to boost the all-round development of the China-Russia Strategic Partnership of Cooperation, and facilitate world peace, stability and development," he said.

During Putin's visit, the two presidents will jointly attend the opening ceremony of the "Year of Russia" in China and a China-Russia high-level business forum, he said, adding that the two sides will also issue political documents and sign a series of mutual cooperative treaties.

Iranian nuclear issue

The Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved through diplomatic channels and negotiation, Li said.

"We support the maintenance of nuclear non-proliferation mechanism, oppose nuclear weapon proliferation, and are in favor of resolving the issue as early as possible through diplomacy and negotiation," he said.

There is still room for resolving the issue under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The international community should not give up efforts toward this goal, he said.

Li hoped negotiations on the issue would yield positive results and called on all parties concerned to remain calm, restrained, patient and flexible to seek a diplomatic solution.

China is ready to maintain communication and coordination with all nations concerned for properly resolving the issue, he said, adding that Zhang Yan, director of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Arms Control and Disarmament, is now in Vienna working on it.

Six-party talks

"China has maintained communication and coordination with all parties involved for the early resumption of the six-party talks," Li said.

The six-party talks aiming to find a peaceful solution to the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue involve China, the US, Russia, Japan, North and South Korea. The talks have so far been held for five rounds in Beijing.

Calling the joint statement issued last year following the fourth-round talks a "hard-won result that should be cherished," Li said China believes that as long as all parties have sincerity, demonstrate flexibility and keep the overall security situation of Northeast Asia in mind, the negotiation will "achieve positive progress gradually."

Ties with African countries

China and African countries will build a politically supportive, economically win-win and culturally connected strategic partnership, Li said.

Recently Li visited some African countries including Liberia, Nigeria and Cape Verde and found China-Africa relations had a solid foundation. "In Liberia, I saw the peacekeeping troops dispatched by China had harmonious relations with local citizens and played a positive role in maintaining the local peace and stability," he said.

Ties with Arab countries

The Sino-Arabic relations are developing smoothly, Li said.

Since the Sino-Arabic Cooperation Forum was founded, the two sides have carried out close cooperation, he said.

"We are willing to make efforts with all Arab nations to deepen cooperation of the forum in different fields and promote the development of Sino-Arabic relations in the new period," he said.

Peaceful means and political negotiation are the correct road to the settlement of the Middle East issue. It is China's hope that Palestine and Israel could continue to observe the relevant UN resolutions and the principle of "land for peace," and resolve their differences through dialogue, Li said.

"China firmly supports the Middle East peace process and has been mediating among the parties concerned," he said.

"We will continue to cooperate with the parties concerned and play a constructive role for an early realization of peace and stability in the region," he added.

Vatican should not intervene in China's internal affairs

China hopes the Vatican will not intervene in its internal affairs in any form, Li said in response to a question that the Vatican appointed a Hong Kong person as the cardinal-bishop recently.

"We hope the Vatican will not maintain a so-called 'diplomatic relations' with a province or a region of China," he said.

Taiwan authorities take a dangerous step

Li said the Taiwan authorities have taken a "dangerous step" toward "Taiwan independence" by ceasing the function of the "National Unification Council" and the application of its guidelines.

"This is a serious provocation to the one-China principle observed by the international community and to the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits," he said.

The secessionist activities will sure "end up in shameful failure," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2006)