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Top Legislator Li Peng Meets US Senator
China's Top Legislator Meets U.S. Senator
Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said Monday that there is more common ground than disagreement between China and the United States, and the two sides should develop a constructive cooperation relationship.
Li made the remarks at a 90-minute meeting with US Senator Richard Shelby, who is in China leading a delegation. The US guests arrived in Beijing Sunday.
Li said China is glad to see the improvements in China-US relations after a period of hard times between the two countries. Top level visits have resumed gradually and the cooperation in economic, trade and other areas has seen progress.
To develop the economy and improve the living standard of the people is the central task of China in the long run. Therefore China needs a long-lasting, peaceful international environment, and the objective of the country's foreign policy is to maintain world peace and promote common development, he said.
"We pay great attention to China-U.S. relations," Li said. " There is more common ground than disagreement between China and the U.S. and we hope to develop a constructive cooperation relationship with the U.S. side."
Li said China and the U.S. shoulder common responsibilities in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large, in promoting global economic development, in dealing with the worsening environment and in fighting against terrorism.
Therefore, China and the U.S. should increase dialog and coordination to reduce confrontation, he said, adding that China hopes the upcoming visit to China by President George W. Bush this autumn will achieve positive results and help promote the development of relations between the two countries.
Li said China attaches importance to the role of the U.S. Congress and hopes to increase exchanges with it. The development of the China-U.S. relations is in the interest of both peoples, and both the NPC deputies in China and congressmen in the U.S. should contribute to it.
On the issue of Taiwan, Li said China upholds the principle of "one country, two systems" and peaceful reunification.
"We have the greatest sincerity to settle the issue peacefully, but we will never tolerate any attempt to split Taiwan from China, " he said.
"The reason why the two sides of the Taiwan Straits cannot sit down to talk is that the Taiwan authorities have refused to accept the one-China principle up to now."
Since President Richard Nixon was in office three decades ago, each successive U.S. administration has said it sticks to the one- China policy. President George W. Bush said he would continue to stick to the one-China policy as well as the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and does not support Taiwan independence.
"We pay special attention to the reiteration of those pledges by the U.S. side," Li said. "We hope the U.S. side can match its words with action, and in particular, the U.S. side will stop selling weapons to Taiwan and clearly support China's peaceful reunification."
Sen. Shelby stressed that the U.S. considers there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China, and the Taiwanese people are Chinese people. The U.S. side does not support Taiwan independence and considers the future of Taiwan is connected with China's mainland.
The U.S. side does not want to see its relationship with China affected by the issue of Taiwan, he added.
He said the U.S. and China differ in social systems and do not agree on all issues, but that should not prevent the two countries from becoming economic and trading partners and the two peoples from becoming friends, nor should it affect the joint efforts of the two countries to create a peaceful international environment.
On his sixth visit to China since 1983, Sen. Shelby said he found China has changed greatly. He extended congratulations to Beijing's successful win to host the 2008 Olympiad and China's upcoming entry into the World Trade Organization.
Earlier Monday, Sen. Shelby and Zeng Jianhui, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NPC, held a working discussion.
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