US willing to stick to six-party talks: China's FM spokesman

The chief US envoy on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue told China that the United States is willing to stick to the six-party talks for a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue through dialogue, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Beijing Thursday.

Spokesman Qin Gang quoted US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who visited China in the last two days, as saying that the United States could "do many things" if the six- party talks were restarted.

Hill arrived in Beijing Tuesday after talks with officials of the Republic of Korea in Seoul to discuss resuming the six-party talks. China's Vice-Foreign Ministers Dai Bingguo, Yang Jiechi and Wu Dawei had met or held talks with Hill separately Tuesday afternoon.

The Chinese officials reiterated in the meetings that the twin goals of restarting the six-party talks and maintaining peaceful negotiations to keep the peninsula peaceful and free from nuclear weapons are in line with each party's common interests, Qin said.

He said China also urged the parties involved to further demonstrate flexibility, patience and sincerity to create favorable conditions for restarting the six-party talks at an early date.

On China-US relations, Qin said, both Chinese and US officials agreed "maintaining the long-term healthy stable development of the relations is very important and accords with our common interests."

"We believe Hill's visit helped improve understanding between China and the Untied States and our cooperation in relevant fields, " he said.

Beijing is the second stop of Hill's three-nation trip that also took him to Japan on Wednesday.

Three rounds of six-party talks have been held to try to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. The talks have been stalled since June last year when the Democratic People's Republic of Korea accused the United States of adopting hostile policy toward it.