President Hu Jintao had a meeting with US President Barack Obama on the afternoon on March 26 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said the two presidents had an extensive and in-depth exchange of views on China-US relations and other issues of common interest and they reached a lot of consensus.

On the Iranian nuclear issue, President Hu pointed out that China does not approve of the development of nuclear weapons by Iran or any country in the Middle East, and China believes that dialogue and negotiation are the only right way to resolve the issue.

Recently, there has been some positive momentum in dialogue and cooperation concerning the Iranian nuclear issue. There is now an important opportunity for the resumption of talks between the P5+1 countries and Iran, Hu said. 

China and the United States should continue to encourage Iran to engage in serious and practical dialogue with the P5+1 countries - five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the US, Russia, China, Britain and France, as well as Germany - and strengthen cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, he said

China hopes that the United States will continue to adhere to the policy of engagement vis-à-vis Iran, he added.