The chief negotiators for China and the U.S. to the six-party talks regarding nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula met in Beijing Thursday, agreeing to implement the joint statement from the fourth round of talks.

Speaking as a news conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, meet here for four hours to discuss issues of common concern.

Last September, negotiators from China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United Sates, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and Japan issued the joint statement at the end of the fourth round of the talks, establishing a framework for a solution to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

Wu and Hill agreed during their meeting that the joint statement and the important promises made by the parties should be implemented as soon as possible.

The two chief negotiators also agreed to establish a long-term peace mechanism in northeast Asia and that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula accords with common interests of all parties concerned.

Hill, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday night, was expected to leave on Thursday for the ROK.

During his stay in China, Hill also met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei respectively to follow up on Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States last month.

The two sides agreed to make joint efforts to promote the constructive partnership of cooperation between the two countries.

Spokesman Liu Jianchao said China always maintains that the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue should be solved peacefully through dialogue, and China has made efforts to break the current standoff. The six-party talks has been in a stalemate since the first phase of the fifth round of talks that ended in November last year.

As for U.S. sanctions against a Macao-based bank accused of aiding the DPRK to launder money, Liu said the investigation is still under way.

Source: Xinhua