Cheney's visit expected to boost Sino-US ties: official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Cheney's visit expected to boost Sino-US ties: official

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China and the United States are busy preparing for US Vice President Dick Cheney's upcoming visit, an event which is expected to boost bilateral relationship, a senior Chinese official said here Wednesday.

He Yafei, director of the Department of the North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, described the visit as a "significant" high-level contact, during which leaders of the two countries will exchange views on bilateral ties and issues of common concern.

Cheney will pay a working visit to China from April 13 to 15 at the invitation of Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong. But the Foreign Ministry official gave no specific schedule of the visit during a news briefing.

He said the past couple of years saw big progress in Sino-US relations, and the contacts and visits between their leaders were frequent.

Cooperation between the two nations has been fruitful in a wide range of areas such as anti-terrorism, non-traditional security and epidemic prevention, He said, noting that the cooperation is conducive to the stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large.

He said the Sino-US cooperation has benefited both the Chinese and American peoples, hoping the US side will continue to follow the principle of substantive cooperation and develop bilateral ties.

He admitted there are differences between China and the United States, but pointed out that both as influential countries regionally and globally and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, cooperation should stand out prominently in the two nations' ties.

And their differences mainly lie in the Taiwan issue, He said. The Taiwan question is very important to the Chinese people, for it concerns China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Taiwan issue forms the most important and most delicate topic of the Sino-US relations, and so long as principles of the three Sino-US joint communiques are closely followed, the two countries' relations will go on a sound track, He said.

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