Rice to visit China July 9-10
(Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-06 12:51

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit China from July 9 to 10 at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Foreign Ministry said Wednesday in a statement published on its website.

China is the first-leg of Rice's four-nation Asian trip through to July 13 that will also take her to Thailand, the Republic of Korea and Japan.

During her stay, Rice will meet senior government officials of those countries to discuss political and economic issues of bilateral concern, spokesman for the US Department of State Sean McCormack said in a press statement.

The nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, cooperation on fighting terrorism and transnational crimes, and tsunami recovery and recontruction efforts are topics to be discussed between Rice and officials with above-mentioned countries, the statement said.

This would be Rice's second trip to China in less than four months. Her previous China tour, also her first China visit in the capacity of US secretary of state, was made on March 20.

Rice on Asian mission

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make a trip to China, South Korea and Japan, the US State Department said amid growing US anxiety over stalled multilateral talks to end the North Korean nuclear crisis.

The July 8-13 trip comes as Pyongyang gave mixed signals on the prospect of a resumption of six-party talks among the United States, the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and China, which had been held up since June 2004.

"And on this trip, we'll consult again with other members of the six-party talks about the way forward, but we still urge the North Koreans to return to the table and engage in a constructive manner," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters as he announced the Asian trip.

"We have been urging for quite some time North Korea to return to the six-party talks without precondition and to engage in a constructive manner. That's the, at this moment, hold-up to having another round of talks," he said.

The United States, he added, has "not heard" from any parties indicating North Korea's return to the talks designed to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

This would be Rice's second trip to China, South Korea and Japan in just more than three months.

Although McCormack did not say what Rice would specifically raise with the leaders of North Korea's three neighbours, there are speculations she is going to press for Pyongyang to be referred to the UN Security Council.

North Korea rejected a US aid-for-disarmament plan and refused to attend the fourth round of the six-party talks hosted by China and scheduled in September last year, blaming what it called US hostility and insincerity.

On Tuesday, North Korea restated its rejection of US demands that it first scrap its nuclear weapons to gain US rewards, casting a shadow over prospects for the return to six-way talks.

There would be no progress at the talks if the United States did not change its "high-handed" stance, Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported.

But the paper said that North Korea "has neither opposed nor shunned the six-party talks."

McCormack said the United States was prepared to explain its aid-for-disarmament proposal in detail and address "any questions" North Korea might raise at the next round of talks.

"But in order to do that we need to have the next round of talks. In order to have the next round of talks, North Korea has to return to the table."

Washington believes North Korea has one or two nuclear bombs and may have reprocessed enough plutonium for half a dozen more from spent fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.

The nuclear standoff flared in October 2002 when Washington accused Pyongyang of operating a nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement.

On February 10 this year, North Korea announced it had nuclear weapons.

McCormack said that aside from the North Korean nuclear issue, Rice would discuss cooperation on fighting terrorism and transnational crimes, and tsunami recovery and reconstruction efforts during the July 8-13 Asian trip.

Rice would also visit the Thai tourist resort island of Phuket, one of the areas that was devastated by the tsunami which occurred last December.

"The secretary is going to go there to talk about the reconstruction efforts, the ongoing reconstruction efforts and the ongoing efforts of the US government and the international community to help people affected by that terrible event," McCormack said.

The tsunami disaster killed about 217,000 people in 11 countries along the Indian Ocean coastline, including almost 5,400 people in Thailand.

About half of the dead in Thailand were foreigners on holiday.

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