Before his visit to China the UN Secretary-General Annan accepted a joint interview by Chinese correspondents stationed in the UN and reporters from Chinese-language media in New York in his office, and answered questions regarding his scheduled visit to China and UN reform.

Annan said he is delighted to visit China again and have the opportunity to meet with Chinese leaders regularly exchanging opinions on questions such as the development of world situation, the relations between China and the United Nations, UN reform and fulfilling the goals stated in the UN Millennium Declaration.

He said as a permanent member of the UN Security Council China plays an important role in the UN. He would extend his thanks to the Chinese leadership during his visit in China for China's contribution to the UN peacekeeping activities. China is playing an increasingly important role in the development of world economy and the influence of China's energetic economic development is felt at every corner of the world.

With regard to UN reform Annan said UN reform should be viewed in a broader and multi-faceted perspective. I have divided threats facing the UN into "hard threats" and "soft threats". It means there are not only the "hard threats" problems such as anti-terrorism and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction but also the "soft threats" ones such as poverty, Aids and environment. In addition the "soft threat" is by no means soft, it is more urgent to be solved than the "hard threat". For billions of people in the world the questions of subsistence, safe drinking water and hygiene are all urgent affairs. More resources are needed in solving these problems. The UN needs to discuss on adopting actions to address these questions.

Annan also talked of issues such as those in Iraq and Sudan.

By People's Daily Online