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By Olivier Knox, Agence France-Presse
LIMA: Chinese President Hu Jintao thanked US President George W.
Bush on Friday for improving Sino-US ties and said he hoped
President-elect Barack Obama would follow suit upon taking office
January 20, a Chinese official said.
As they opened their last meeting as heads of
state, Bush allowed he was “a little nostalgic” about his ebbing
time in office but declared that relations were “on solid
ground,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
The two leaders discussed the global financial
crisis, the work ahead in six-country negotiations to shutter North
Korea’s nuclear programs and longstanding issues like Taiwan and
Beijing’s spotty rights record, she said.
No breakthroughs were announced after the
closed-door discussions, which took place on the sidelines of the
annual 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Hu “expressed appreciation” for the
“advances in ties achieved in the past few years” and said he
hoped Obama would keep relations on track and respect Beijing’s
views on Taiwan, said China foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.
Hu “expressed hope that the next US
administration can recognize the importance of China-US ties and at
the same time recognize the importance of the Taiwan issue to
China-US ties,” he told reporters.
China considers Taiwan, where defeated
nationalists fled in 1949, to be part of its territory and demands
that all nations recognize only Beijing as the legitimate
government.
Bush told Hu “he felt very comfortable in
their personal relationship and that he believes the relationship
between our two countries is on solid ground,” said Perino.
The US president had gone into the closed-door
meeting eager to get China, which hosts the six-country talks, to
call a new round in early December to cement a blueprint for
verifying North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.
“We understand they’re working on an early
December head of delegation meeting,” Perino said afterwards.
Washington wants those talks to make sure all
six parties—China, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea, and the
United States—support a mechanism for verifying that Pyongyang is
disarming according to plan.
The US president was to meet with Japanese Prime
Minister Taro Aso, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, and Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday, and head home Sunday after
APEC talks conclude.
The two leaders also discussed the global
financial meltdown, noting “the need to reject protectionism, and
the work ahead for a successful framework agreement for the Doha
round [of global trade talks] this year,” said Perino.
And Bush “raised the issue of the need for
increased market access commitments,” she said.
The US president also “encouraged the Chinese
to continue their dialogue with the Dalai Lama” about the fate of
his homeland of Tibet and “also expressed his long standing
commitment to religious freedom,” said Perino.
Bush reiterated US policy toward Taiwan, and the
two leaders also discussed “continued cooperation” on issues
like Iran’s suspect nuclear program, turmoil in Zimbabwe and
Sudan, and pressure for reforms in Myanmar, she said.
They also agreed that the US-sponsored “major
economies” forum “is the way to move forward to address the
challenges of climate change,” she said.
Bush also gave Hu “warm regards” from his
father, former US president and former US ambassador to Beijing
George Bush.
Hu voiced hope that Bush, after he steps down,
“can come to China often to continue to have a positive influence
on China-US ties.”
The vastly unpopular US leader planned a
vigorous defense of his foreign policy over eight years in office,
before Obama takes over and inherits wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
and the global economic crisis.
“I have given it my all,” Bush said in an
interview with Peru’s America TV. He was to echo that theme in a
speech Saturday to APEC.
Bush also hoped to get APEC members to sign on
to the declaration by the Group of 20—the world’s major rich and
developing nations—of core principles for managing the global
economic crisis, aides said.
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