China hopes countries taking part in the Six-Party Talks will honor their pledges and implement the second-phase of the deal agreed upon last month, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said yesterday.

Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei met with US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) Kim Kye-Gwan in Beijing yesterday, Liu said. Hill and Kim are their respective countries' representatives to the Six-Party Talks.

Wu exchanged views with the two leaders on the progress of disabling DPRK's nuclear facilities in the next stages, Liu said.

A nine-member working group of US experts reached Pyongyang yesterday to begin disabling the nuclear facilities, the spokesman said.

The DPRK agreed to disable all existing nuclear facilities and provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs by the end of this year, according to a joint document released on October 3, when the second phase of the sixth round of Six-Party Talks ended in Beijing.

In another development, the third working group meeting on energy and economic assistance to the DPRK, held in Republic of Korea (ROK) on Monday and Tuesday, "reached significant consensus and made positive progress", Liu said.

The meeting, in which China also participated, mainly discussed the issues such how to help the DPRK in the next stage, he said.

Gates for China

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates will visit China from November 4 to 6, during which he will meet officials and discuss military and international issues of common concern, Liu said.

The China trip, the first by Gates since assuming his post in December, "is a big event in the military ties between China and the US this year," he said.

"We hope the visit will help improve mutual understanding and boost the trust between the two countries and militaries."

Dalai Lama

Responding to media reports that Pope Benedict XVI plans to meet with the Dalai Lama in a Vatican audience in December, Liu said China hopes the Vatican "will not do anything that will hurt the feelings of the Chinese people".

"Instead, it should take steps that really show its sincerity in improving relations."

Asked why some heads of state have turned a blind eye to Chinese protests and met with the Dalai Lama recently, Liu said: "They were either deceived by the Dalai Lama or have ulterior motives to interfere with China's internal affairs."

"What they've done has also violated the basic international norms and blatantly interfered with China's internal affairs," Liu said.

(China Daily 11/02/2007 page2)