June 9, 2002	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27,1423

SAINT PETERSBURG, June 8: China called on Pakistan and India on Saturday to settle the Kashmir dispute through direct talks after the standoff in the sub-continent dominated the Central Asian leaders’ summit in Russia’s northern city of Saint Petersburg.

“This question must be settled through a direct dialogue between India and Pakistan,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Kuong Qihuan said at a press conference here.

“Tension between India and Pakistan has reached a very high point and this is very dangerous for South Asia,” Kuong added.

Kuong insisted China had friendly relations with both Pakistan and India.

“China and Pakistan have friendly relations, and China and India have friendly relations too,” he said.

“China has always called on these countries to exert restraint and solve their conflict through peaceful means,” he went on.

Turning to Washington’s recent decision to grant Moscow market economy status, a step widely seen as increasing the latter’s chances to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), Kuong Qihuan said China supported Russia’s bid to become a member of the organization.

“We strongly support Russia’s bid to join the WTO,” said Kuong, whose country became a member of the global trading bloc last December.

PUTIN TO VISIT CHINA: The Kremlin announced on Saturday that Putin will visit China in the first 10 days of December as part of Moscow’s ongoing efforts to boost political, military and economic cooperation with Beijing, ITAR-TASS reported.

Despite a pro-Western re-alignment of Russia’s foreign policy since September 11, and a new partnership with NATO, Putin has reiterated a desire to forge closer ties with its Soviet-era rival in Asia.

For its part, China welcomed the improvement of relations between Russia and the United States because the two countries were not only permanent members of the UN Security Council, like China itself, but also the world’s leading nuclear powers.

“The improvement of relations between Moscow and Beijing is important for stability in the entire world,” Kuong told journalists in Saint Petersburg.

Putin and US President George W. Bush last month signed a historic disarmament treaty slashing each side’s nuclear arsenal by two thirds to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads over the next decade.—AFP