WASHINGTON, April 16: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday called her Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi to discuss the situation in Tibet and Iran’s nuclear program, US officials said.

“They spoke about Iran, the efforts of the P-5-plus-1 to work on the two pathways, the incentives and disincentives package,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Representatives for the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, China and the European Union failed to agree in talks in Shanghai Wednesday on proposals to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table.

Rice and Yang also “talked about the issue of Tibet. They talked about Taiwan,” McCormack said.

“But from our side, the secretary reiterated what you have heard us say in public, and that is encouraging the Chinese government to engage in a dialogue with the Dalai Lama and his people.” Earlier McCormack said the talks in China on Iran’s nuclear program were focusing on possible “incentives” rather than purely punitive measures against Tehran for continuing its suspect nuclear programme.

—AFP