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US envoy meets China's FM amid Taiwan weapons row
2007-03-04
Visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte met with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing Sunday, a day after China voiced opposition over US weapons sales to Taiwan. US plans announced last week to sell Taiwan 450 air and ground missiles appeared to top the agenda of Negroponte's talks that began Saturday with separate meetings with Deputy Foreign Ministers Dai Bingguo and Yang Jiechi. "In order to ensure the healthy development of China-US relations, China resolutely opposes US weapons sales to Taiwan," ministry spokesman Qin Gang quoted Dai as telling Negroponte during their two-hour meeting. Qin added that the nuclear issues surrounding Iran and North Korea would be discussed in Negroponte's meeting with Li and other senior officials on Sunday. The planned weapons purchase by democratic Taiwan has upset the leaders of China's Communist Party, which views the island as a renegade province to be reunited with the motherland. Ties had already cooled somewhat after US Vice President Dick Cheney's comments, on a trip to Australia, that China's military growth and recent test of a satellite-killer missile did not chime with its stated peaceful aims. Qin said Dai told Negroponte that China was not to be feared. "China will always adhere to the path of peaceful development. In international affairs it will continue to be a constructive and cooperative participant. China's development is peaceful and poses no threat to the United States or to the world," Qin said. Negroponte's visit Beijing is the second leg of a trip that has already taken him to Japan and will include a stop next week in South Korea. All three are US partners in the six-nation effort to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and part of his trip is expected to focus on how to make sure Pyongyang holds up its end of the deal. After exhaustive negotiations, the United States and North Korea signed a new six-nation agreement last month under which Pyongyang agreed to give up its nuclear weapons programmes in exchange for economic and energy aid. During talks between Li and Negroponte, China offered its condolences and sympathy after a series of tornadoes swept the southern United States killing scores of people.
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