Kong: Good afternoon, I shall begin with two announcements.

At the invitation of Premier Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will pay an official visit to China from July 20th to 22nd.

At the invitation of Foreign Minister Dr. Hassan Wirayuda of Indonesia, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing will attend the Fifth ASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting to be held on the Bali Island of Indonesia from July 23 to 24. Participants will exchange views on major international and regional issues of the day, and ASEM-related issues as well.

After that, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing will visit Singapore, at the invitation of Foreign Miniser S. Jayakumar of the Republic of Singapore.

With that, I am happy to take your questions.

Q: We’ve seen reports on Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo’s visit to DPRK. He met with Secretary General Kim Jong Il. Can you be more specific in telling us the contents and results of his meeting?

A: Vice Foreign Minister Da Bingguo visited DPRK as the special envoy of the Chinese Government from July 12th to 15th. His meetings include calls on Secretary General of DPRK Labour Party, Chairman of the National Defence Committee, Kim Jong Il, Chairman Kim Yon Nam of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Congress, and Foreign Minister Baek Nam Soon. He also had talks with the First Deputy Foreign Minister Kang Suk Ju and visited the Bum An Li Farm in Hang Hai Buk Do. All the meetings and talks have been held in a friendly atmosphere. Views have been exchanged on bilateral relations, regional situation and international issues of common interest.

Q: Reports say that during the meetings between Dai Bingguo and Kim Jong Il, Mr. Dai encouraged the leadership of DPRK to accept the US proposed multilateral talks on the nuclear question. Can you give us more details on that? Is that another step of China to solve the nuclear question by enhancing cooperation with the US? How did North Korea respond to that? It’s reported that North Korea has finished reprocessing 8000 spent fuel rods. Was that confirmed by North Korea during Mr. Dai’s visit?

A: I’m yet to get the details of Vice Foreign Minister Dai’s calls since he just came back to Beijing one o’clock this afternoon.

But I’d like to reiterate the position of the Chinese Government on the nuclear question. We maintain that peace and stability of the Peninsula must be ensured and the Peninsula must be nuclear free. We firmly believe that the nuclear question should be solved peacefully and the rational security concerns of DPRK should be addressed. China hopes that various parties can stick to the direction of a peaceful settlement and continue the process of Beijing Talks. In that sense, Vice Foreign Minister Dai’s visit to DPRK is helpful.

With respect to the spent fuel rods, we are unaware of the specific situation there. But we have made our positions known, which is to ensure the denuclearization of the Peninsula. It’s of critical significance to peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.

Q: Can you tell us more about the letter Mr. Dai forwarded to Kim Jong Il? Is his visit part of China’s efforts to solve the Korean nuclear question? Has that accelerated the process to seek a peaceful settlement of the nuclear question? Will the DPRK nuclear issue be brought up during Blair’s visit to China?

A: With respect to the letter, I’m not authorized at this moment to release the content of it. China has been making unremitting efforts to realize peace and stability of the Peninsula; ensure denuclearization and promote a peaceful settlement of the nuclear question. Vice Foreign Minister Dai’s visit to DPRK this time, as his visit to Russia and Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to the US are all important parts of China’s efforts to achieve the above-mentioned goals.

Prime Minister Blair’s upcoming visit to China is of great significance. Leaders of China will exchange views with him in an in-depth manner on bilateral ties, regional situation of common interest. The question you raised is an important one to the region, which should be touched upon by the leaders in their discussions.

Q: Will Hong Kong question, namely the question of Article 23 be brought up during Blair’s visit to China?

A: The question of Hong Kong should be addressed within the framework of China’s “one country, two systems”.

Leaders of China will exchange views with Prime Minister Blair on bilateral relationship, regional and international situation as well as other issues of common interest. I assume that beyond Beijing, the Prime Minister will also visit Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Q: The Governing Council was founded in Iraq. What’s China’s comment on that? Do you deem it as the legitimate representative of Iraq?

A: The Governing Council was set up in Iraq couple of days ago, which China welcomes. We hope stability can be quickly restored inside Iraq so that people there can live comfortable life at an early date.

Follow-up: Does that mean that China will recognize the Council as legitimate? Will China accept any decision made by it, including the diplomatic personnel to be sent to Beijing?

A: We welcome the establishment of the Council. In the meantime, we have stressed on various occasions that the question of Iraq should be solved under the UN framework. It’s imperative to ensure the quick restoration of domestic stability there and to avoid new turmoil. With regard to its external exchanges, since it’s been newly established, we will define our position very soon.
    
Q: Can you tell us what kind of vehicles Vice Foreign Minister Dai used to visit DPRK？I went to the Beijing Airport last Saturday and today but I didn’t see him.

A: There are airplanes, trains and buses traveling between the two countries. There are also ships. Since SARS epidemic is just over, the regular flights haven’t been resumed. I gather that Vice Foreign Minister Dai went there by charter flights. Maybe you got the time wrong.

Q: Reports suggest that China put forward a new plan today to solve the Korean nuclear question, namely to hold paralleled multilateral talks among various parties and bilateral ones between the US and North Korea. Can you confirm?

A: I’ve never heard any new proposal made by China today, to which you refer. We have stated our position on more than one occasion. China remains to be open and flexible to ways of the talks, how many participants should be included in particular. The key at the moment is that various parties should stick to the peaceful solution to the nuclear question and continue the process of Beijing talks.

Follow-up: My apology to you. I might not put my question very clear. What I mean is that I saw reports suggesting that China has the very idea. Was that passed to North Korea when Vice Foreign Minister Dai went there? Does China believe it to be a way out?

A: I reckon that you must have read quite a few reports on who should be included in the talks. Major parties concerned have different views and considerations on that. Under the current circumstances, the most important is to continue the Beijing Talks. The results and effect rather than formality are the most important. We are open to which party should be included. We believe that it’s imperative to continue the Beijing talks. The key is to kick start the talks.

Q: I know that Vice Foreign Minister just came back at one pm. But before the visit, Foreign Ministry must have done a lot of preparation, like what was going to be conveyed to the leadership of DPRK. Can you disclose what’s the message conveyed to them?

A: Both China and DPRK have made earnest preparation for the visit of significance of the kind. China has traditional friendship and cooperation with DPRK. The nuclear question has aroused wide interest. So the preparation has been very careful. About the message, China has expounded comprehensively on its principled position and propositions, stressing that various parties should stick to seeking the peaceful solution to the nuclear question, maintaining peace and stability of the Peninsula and keeping it nuclear weapons free. These goals are of critical significance to peace, stability and development of East Asia and the whole of Asia.

Q: Yesterday Yang Bin was sentenced to eighteen years in prison due to his economic crimes. Was he tried as a Dutch or Chinese citizen?

A: Yang Bin carried a Dutch passport. The officials from the Consular Section of the Dutch Embassy in China have attended the hearing of this case. As for the details of the sentence, Xinhua News Agency had covered that on July 15th and I am not going to repeat here.

Q: Just now you said that Dai Bingguo had a good conversation with Kim Jong Il. Does he feel any change of the attitude of the DPRK? In particular, has there been any softening of its position? Besides, did China propose any amendment to the Sino-DPRK treaty of friendly cooperation and mutual assistance with respect to military assistance?

A: The talks between Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and Secretary General Kim Jong Il were conducted in a friendly atmosphere. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on issues of mutual concern. Since Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo has just returned to Beijing, I am not aware of the details.

The Sino-DPRK treaty of friendly cooperation is a wide-ranging treaty. Its fundamental purpose is to promote the bilateral relations and safeguard peace and stability in East Asia. I have not heard of any change made to this treaty.

Q: I will not dig into the details of Vice Foreign Minister Dai's visit to the DPRK. Could you characterize the visit as successful or not? In particular, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited the US and Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo visited Russia. Maybe the three visits cannot be characterized as of the same kind. But the visit of Vice Foreign Minister Dai is the latest visit to the countries concerned. Is it successful or not? In other words, could you brief us about the outcome of this visit?

A: Since I have not met with our special envoy, I cannot make a complete and accurate evaluation about his trip to the DPRK at this moment. But you may get the conclusion from my early remarks. First, this is an important visit. It is important no matter in terms of promoting bilateral relations or handling regional issues, or having discussion of the international situation, or promoting in-depth exchange of views. Second, it's helpful. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on issues of common concern, the DPRK nuclear question in particular. Therefore, I would like to describe this visit as important and helpful.

Q: Back to the issue of the Iraqi embassy in China. Now that the regime of Iraq has changed, rumors suggest that some former Iraqi diplomats were held up in this embassy due to their inner disputes. Could the Chinese Foreign Ministry set the record straight to tell us what’s going on there?

A: The Iraqi ambassador to China and the diplomats in the Iraqi embassy in China recently informed China of the situation in the embassy. China attaches great importance to it, encouraging them to take effective measures to properly handle their internal matters.

After the press conference, Kong Quan was asked about the latest development of the Chinese citizen in Greece suspected to be infected by SARS. Kong said that, on July 11, the Health Ministry of Greece announced that the Chinese citizen, Lin Ruzhen was removed of SARS infection. Lin has been discharged from hospital and resumed his normal business. Greece has also lifted the entry restrictions on Chinese visiting groups.