Talking about the strong tone concerning Iraq in US President George W. Bush's State of the Union address, Zhang said China had noted the statement by Bush.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan had called for a political solution within the framework of the United Nations and he believed the international community shared a common view on such a solution, Zhang Qiyue said.

The minister had noted that the United Nations had passed many resolutions on the Iraq issue, calling on Iraq to comply with the resolutions comprehensively and honestly.

China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, had kept close contacts with all parties concerned and was working with them for a political solution, Zhang Qiyue quoted Tang Jiaxuan as saying.

The UN Security Council and the entire international community should make more efforts at this critical time, Tang had said.

Zhang Qiyue noted that two UN inspection agencies on Monday submitted key reports to the UN Security Council on their two-month inspections in Iraq.

They pointed out the arms inspections were carried out smoothly in general, but they still needed more time for further investigations.

The Chinese government believed the requirement should be respected, Zhang said.

At the same time, the Iraqi government had reiterated its willingness to cooperate with the United Nations, she said.

The Chinese government hoped the Iraq issue should be resolved by political means, she said.

She also reiterated China's stance on the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) since Bush's address mentioned the issue.

China consistently worked to guarantee the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula to realize the non-nuclearization of the peninsula and to ease the present tensions through dialogue.

She said China had been stressing that dialogue was the only solution to break the deadlock. China believed that countries should respect each other, and disputes between states should be resolved through dialogue and negotiation, which was conducive to world peace and stability.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2003)