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Focus on nuke talks, global economy: Negroponte

By Zhang Haizhou and Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-09 07:36

The Six-Party Talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and the global economy should be the focus of the incoming Obama administration in its handling of Sino-US relations, visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Thursday.

"I think one of the issues that will obviously be of continuing interest will be the question of the Six-Party Talks and the desire of both of our countries ... to see progress toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Negroponte said.

The last round of the talks held last month in Beijing made little progress, with countries failing to reach a deal on a protocol outlining the verifying of information provided by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on its nuclear programs.

Negroponte did not elaborate on the specific policies of the administration under US president-elect Barack Obama.

The deputy secretary of state arrived in the capital on Tuesday night to attend ceremonies marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-US diplomatic relations.

On the economic front, Negroponte said the US and China "would want to work hard in the year ahead to uphold our mutual commitment to promoting an open international trading and financial system".

"My Chinese interlocutors pointed out that they have been very responsible in dealing with the question of American debt that they do hold," he said, referring to his meeting with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Wednesday.

China, with the world's largest currency reserves, surpassed Japan in September to become the biggest foreign holder of US treasuries.

Negroponte also applauded China's policy of reform and opening up in 1978 as "pivotal" for the bilateral ties that have grown and transformed over the past 30 years.

"Our two countries have interactions and exchanges across the entire spectrum of human activity on a scale and depth that simply could not have been imagined when we first established diplomatic ties in 1979," he said.

He called the strong bilateral relationship one of the most important legacies of the outgoing Bush administration, citing the personal relationship that developed between US President George W. Bush and President Hu Jintao, as well as initiatives including the Strategic Economic Dialogue talks.

"It's very important in the political transition to ensure these kinds of mechanisms such as the Strategic Economic Dialogue," Negroponte said.