BEIJING, Dec 23: Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said on Tuesday he and US Secretary of State Colin Powell “get along well” and often call each other at night, sometimes waking each other up.

“When we speak, because of the time difference, sometimes he wakes me up, sometimes I wake him up,” Mr Li said in his first chatroom discussion with the public.

“I really like Secretary of State Powell,” Mr Li wrote online, answering questions from the public in an Internet discussion arranged by China’s foreign ministry and the official Xinhua news agency.

“We get along well, mainly because we really pay attention to developing Sino-US relations,” he said.

Mr Li said he and Mr Powell shared similar backgrounds, both coming from relatively poor farming families and both having served in the military.

He noted though that his own military experience was mainly in training camps and working in army kitchens.

Mr Li said he should thank Mr Powell’s wife, Alma, for facilitating their late night calls.

“Once I woke him up. His two dogs also woke up and very much affected our telephone discussion. Later I heard someone say, ‘Hurry up and close the door’, and then the quality of the conversation was better,” Mr Li said, referring to Alma Powell.

In the past year, Mr Li and Colin Powell have met frequently and have worked together on major issues.—AFP