"The Chinese side has agreed that the US side may, in the near future, send personnel to China to inspect the area where US military personnel presumably went missing during the Cold War period,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

It is reported that two US pilots went missing over Northeast China during a spying mission about 50 years ago.

The Pentagon is preparing to send a search team to Northeast China in hopes of recovering the remains of the two American pilots who are believed to have been buried 50 years ago where their unmarked plane crashed during a failed spy mission for the CIA, according to reports from Associated Press.

The eight-member search team from the Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii is scheduled to leave on July 15 and investigate the crash site near the town of Antu in China's Jilin Province, the press said.

China has for many years co-operated with the United States in searches for missing US soldiers in the spirit of humanity and to further promote friendly relations between the two countries, Liu said.

The Chinese Government has co-operated with the United States on several projects to recover the remains of World War II-era military personnel lost in China. In 1999, a US-China team recovered the remains of two US airmen whose B-24 bomber crashed into a mountain in today's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 1944 while returning from a mission.

Commenting on the on-going visit by Nepalese King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, Liu said that since establishing diplomatic relations nearly half a century ago, China and Nepal have continued to trust and support each other and treat each other as equals.

"We believe that King Gyanendra's visit will further promote the development of the long-standing good-neighbourliness and partnership between the two countries,'' he said, adding that China will firmly support Nepal's efforts to safeguard peace and stability in the country.

As the special envoy of the Chinese Government, Vice-Foreign Minister Yang Wenchang was invited to attend the summit and pay a visit to South Africa.

Yang said that the establishment of the AU reflected the strong aspirations of the African countries and peoples in their pursuit of peace, development and rejuvenation.

(China Daily July 10, 2002)