Openness key, Carter says

ATLANTA: Former US president Jimmy Carter has said Barack Obama should ensure "openness in discussion" with China so that disagreements between the two can be resolved in a mutually respectful and peaceful way.

Speaking on Thursday from the Carter Center - a nonprofit organization he set up in Atlanta, Georgia in 1981 with his wife Rosalynn - Carter said he had spoken over the telephone with the president-elect's top advisors and will have meetings with the designated secretary of state, national security advisor and ambassador to the United Nations before Obama's inauguration on Jan 20.

Carter said he sees the United States and China working together for peace during the next administration.