Newly appointed U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, kicked off his first official visit to China on March 3 after taking office late last month.

The 67-year-old diplomat had a packed agenda during his three-day visit, holding talks with senior Chinese leaders to exchange views on bilateral relations and significant international and regional issues of common concern, including the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the war on terrorism, and issues regarding trade imbalance.

The United States and China should be partners in trying to secure world stability and peace, Negroponte told a press conference in Beijing on March 4.

Negroponte arrived in Beijing, the second leg of his three-nation Asian tour, one day after China expressed its strong opposition to the Pentagon's arms sales plan to Taiwan, including more than 400 missiles worth $421 million, as well as other related support, maintenance, and logistics services.

"It is a rude interference in China's internal affairs," said a foreign ministry spokesman, who also warned Washington not to send wrong messages to Taiwan's pro-independence forces.

In response, Negroponte assured China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing that the United States will stick to the one-China policy and observe the three joint communiques on developing bilateral relations.

The post of aide to Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, had long been vacant after Robert Zoellick, who had helped to build a wide-ranging strategic dialogue mechanism with China during his tenure, departed last June.

Negroponte was nominated by President George W. Bush and approved by the Congress earlier this year. A proponent of China-U.S. strategic talks, he is now considered as the Bush administration's top China policy planner, especially in political and military fields.

"The United States seeks to work cooperatively with China in this regard that benefits two countries and the rest of the world," Negroponte said at the March 4 press conference. He also called for strengthened military dialogues between Beijing and Washington so that both sides can have better mutual understandings.

"The United States encourages China to play a responsible role on the international stage and the United States seeks to work cooperatively with China in this regard, something that benefits the two countries as well as the rest of the world."

John Negroponte

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U.S. Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, stressing the prime importance of maintaining a good bilateral relationship just before

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U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, telling reporters on March 6 that Washington and Pyongyang are on the "right track" for normalizing relations

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China's Central Banker Zhou Xiaochuan, hinting on March 5 the yuan's trading band could be widened later this year

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Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, attacking a U.S. plan to base a missile defense system in eastern Europe as threatening to cause new tensions with Russia

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Editorial of Taiwan Commercial Times, lashing out at Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's March 4 secessionist remarks, in which he pledged to seek "independence" of the island

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Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, explaining the stand of the

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UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, calling on women and men to unite in a cause that embraces all humankind in a March 7 speech marking the International Women's Day