Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and US Secretary of State Colin
Powell discussed the North Korean (DPRK) nuclear crisis in a Sunday
telephone call amid a push to prepare for a new round of six-party
talks.
The Foreign Ministry did not announce any agreement on dates for
a fourth round of talks. However, at the end of the third round of
talks in June, China, the US, North and South Korea, Japan and
Russia agreed to try to hold a new round before the end of
September, with a working group meeting to precede it.
North Korea has since announced that it cannot participate in
working group meetings because of the "hostile" attitude of the
United States. Some analysts believe that the country is unlikely
to take part in serious negotiations until after the US
presidential election in November.
China, the mediator and host of the three rounds of talks held
so far, has set out the general goals, direction and method to come
to a peaceful resolution. It renewed its efforts to resolve the
22-month-old crisis at the weekend with top-level visits to both
Koreas.
Powell and Li also congratulated each other on the respective
countries' Olympic medal hauls.
Powell reiterated US support for the one-China policy.
(China Daily, China.org.cn August 31, 2004)