CHINA: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte holds meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and state councillor Tang Jiaxuan during the China leg of his Asian tour

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte met Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (pron: lee-zhao-shing) and state councillor Tang Jiazuan (pron: tang-djeeah-shooan) on Sunday (March 4) in the Chinese capital Beijing. Negroponte is on the second leg of a diplomatic tour of Asia to shore up a breakthrough deal with North Korea reached last month to end Pyongyang's nuclear programme. He started his Asia visit in Japan where he met Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Friday (March 2). He will visit the South Korean capital Seoul after Beijing. State Department spokesman Tom Casey denied a Financial Times report that quoted an unnamed official as saying Negroponte planned to add Pyongyang to his itinerary. At six-party talks last month, North Korea agreed to seal its main nuclear reactor and the source of its weapons-grade plutonium in return for an initial 50,000 tonnes of fuel or economic aid. Those talks include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also told Negroponte on Saturday that Washington should halt arms sales to Taiwan. The Pentagon told Congress this week it had approved the possible sale of up to $421 million in missiles to Taiwan for use on its F-16 fighter jets. Taiwan will hold an election in 2008 to choose a successor to President Chen Shui-bian, whose pro-independence steps have infuriated Beijing. Beijing says reunifying with Taiwan is a supreme national goal and rejects any possibility of full independence for the self-governed island that fell away from mainland control after Nationalist forces fled there in 1949. China has repeatedly said it will not rule out using armed force if Taiwan opts for full independence. Washington recognises China and has no diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is obliged under the Taiwan Relations Act to help the island defend itself.

ITN Source | March 4, 2007

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