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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has met with US President Barack Obama at the White House on the final day of his visit to Washington.
Also, Wang Yi had a rare chance of speaking at length at a Washington think tank on issues about the South China Sea as well as the tensions clouding the Korean Peninsula.
Whether side by side with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry, on Capitol Hill with the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, or a greeting in the Oval Office with the U.S. president, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said this important three-day U.S. trip would set the tone for diplomatic relations between the largest economies on earth.
"A good China-US relationship will benefit both nations and the world at large," said Wang.
Wang Yi spoke for an hour and-a-half at a Washington, DC think tank-the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Covering an array of topics, but conceding his audience clearly cared about two, specifically the dispute over the South China Sea, and the DPRK.
"First of all, we are against the development of nuclear weapons by the DPRK," said Wang.
Wang's first public comments about the region since word broke that the U.S. and China had agreed on tougher UN sanctions against Pyongyang for violating UN nuclear restrictions.
"There will be a new UN security council resolution introducing further actions to limit development of nuclear missile technology in the DPRK,"
"Yet, at the same time, we must not give up on peace talks, which provides the only real viable solution to the nuclear issue," said Wang.
China and the U.S. have been united in their desire to punish the DPRK's recent nuclear tests and rocket launch. But had been divided over how severe sanctions should be.
Wang says the new resolution will change the way China deals with the DPRK. At the same time, Wang told the group China has every reason to be concerned the United States may deploy an anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea-known as THAAD.
"I must point out that the X-band radar associated with the thaad system goes far beyond the korean penninsula and reaches into the interior of China."
And that, he says, is a security concern for China. The South China Sea is the other security concern for the U.S. and China with the United States accusing China of militarising the region.
The foreign minister dismissed that allegation, saying China has every right to defend islands they have historically claimed. And when it comes to disagreements in the region, Wang says China and other ASEAN nations are capable of resolving their own disputes.
"Countries from outside of the region, it is hoped, will support the resolution of the dispute through negotiations between the directly concerned parties," said Wang.
中文国际网摘编：GAN JADE |
