WASHINGTON, Dec 9: US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday praised Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s public inclusion of AIDS patients, unprecedented for a senior Chinese leader.

Mr Powell hosted a dinner for Mr Wen at the State Department and put serious political business aside, seeking to forge a personal connection with his visitor, due at the White House on Tuesday.

“I appreciate your efforts on the AIDS crisis and I particularly applaud your efforts to remove the stigma of AIDS in China and to help those so much in need of medical care,” Mr Powell said.

“On this and many other matters, you have been candid, constructive and you have sought cooperative relationships and that is precisely what we seek with China: a candid, constructive and cooperative relationship.”

Mr Wenearlier this month visited AIDS patients in China for the first time, signalling a renewed government drive to confront an epidemic that experts have warned could explode if not urgently addressed.

In recent months, China has appeared to be much more determined to address HIV/AIDS that is estimated to have infected up to one million and killed nearly 150,000.

Mr Powell also praised Mr Wenfor his role in China’s drive to convene six-nation talks on the North Korea nuclear crisis.

“I applaud your contributions in working for a denuclearized North Korea, in helping to reconstruct Iraq and in bringing stability to your neighbour, Afghanistan,” Mr Powell said.

“I applaud your help and cooperation in fighting the scourge of terrorism.”

With those paragraphs, Mr Powell appeared to be using Mr Wenas a symbol of China’s wider cooperation with the United States.

Mr Powell earlier this year raised eyebrows when he described Washington’s current relationship with Beijing as the best it has been for 30 years.

There was no direct reference in Mr Powell’s speech to issues that divide China and the United States, like weapons proliferation, niggling trade issues and Taiwan.

But Mr Powell did include a carefully crafted reference to human rights, an issue on which the United States has said China is guilty of “backsliding.”

“The human spirit craves more than what is material,” he said.—AFP