Yukos case not to affect China-Russia oil pipeline: FM

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 05, 2003

Yukos case not to affect China-Russia oil pipeline: FM

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The Chinese government says it is convinced that the Russian government will appropriately handle its investigation into Yukos, Russia's largest oil producer, and that it is a strictly internal affair.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said at a routine news briefing Tuesday that the investigation would not produce any impact on the China-Russia oil pipeline project.

The project was a leading cooperative project in energy, economy and technology, which has been openly promised by both governments on numerous occasions, she acknowledged.

At the eighth regular consultation of Chinese and Russian premiers, Zhang noted, the two sides agreed to abide by the principles set forth by the two heads of state in their joint statement on May 27 this year and continue to implement the China-Russia oil pipeline project.

She said China noticed that Russian officials had expressed Russia's willingness to expand bilateral cooperation in the energy field and to fulfill their commitment to building the project.

"China is willing to actively cooperate with the Russian side to implement as soon as possible the consensus and agreements thatthe two sides have reached on the project," Zhang said.

On Oct. 25, Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested on charges of fraud, tax evasion and five other offenses.Russia's Prosecutor General's Office later froze trading in the company's shares.

Vice-Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, one of the top diplomats involved in efforts to defuse the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula, will visit the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan this month.

Dai will be in ROK from November 9-12 and Japan from November 12-16 on a trip that comes just one week after a visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by senior Chinese leader Wu Bangguo.

Dai's visit is regarded as China's latest move to push for the continuance of the six-party talks on this issue.

"China will continue to work with other parties to push for the next round of six-party talks,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue said yesterday.

Responding to reports that the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the European Union are considering suspension of light water projects in the DPRK, Zhang said all related parties should take more positive actions to create a sound atmosphere for the second round talks.

Zhang also reiterated China's opposition to any official contact between Taiwan and the United States when asked to comment on a handshake between Taiwan "leader'' Chen Shui-bian and US Secretary of State Colin Powell when the two men met in Panama recently.

On the topic of Pakistani President Musharraf's visit to China, Zhang said both sides will strengthen co-operation in nontraditional security areas in the future, including terrorism, national splittism and religious extremism.

Turning to reports that there is increasing appeal in Japan to reduce its official development assistance to China, Zhang said China is still a developing country though it has made progress in high technology, as demonstrated by last month's successful launch of the Shenzhou V spacecraft.

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