Beijing, Mar 21: Despite China's opposition to the US-led military attack on Iraq, there will be minimal damage to Sino-US ties and the maiden visit of American vice president Dick Cheney to Beijing will take place as scheduled, officials and analysts said. Cheney's visit will occur and the two sides are in touch with each other and working out a schedule for the high-level visit which is planned between the third and fourth week of April, foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.
An advance party from the US has already completed preliminary talks with the Chinese side on Cheney's visit, Kong told reporters yesterday when asked whether China's opposition to US-led attack on Iraq would upset Cheney's trip.
He also pointed out to the first telephonic conversation between the newly-elected Chinese President Hu Jinato and US President George W Bush on Tuesday during which the former expressed China's desire to work with the US for a healthy and stable development of Sino-US relations.
Bush, who called to congratulate Hu on his new appointment, said the US is willing to cooperate closely with China to continuously advance bilateral ties.
Meanwhile, Chinese analysts say that different attitudes between China and US on Iraq war are not expected to seriously affect bilateral ties that have recovered from the tension of the early days of the Bush administration.
Zhu Feng, professor of international relations at Peking University, said the statement released by Chinese foreign ministry yesterday is not likely to harm the Sino-US relations because the US needs China's co-operation in international affairs. Bureau Report