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Hu, Medvedev discuss ties with Obama

BEIJING: China’s President Hu Jintao and Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev spoke to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday to discuss relations between their respective country’s relations with the U.S. and other major international issues, including the global financial crisis and deployment of U.S. missile shields in Europe.

In a telephone conversation, Mr. Hu expressed appreciation to Mr. Obama for emphasising in his campaign speeches the great importance of China-U.S. relations, and for advocating the strengthening of China-U.S. cooperation in jointly responding to global challenges and in sharing global development opportunities.

China and the U.S. should respect each other and accommodate each other’s concerns, and appropriately settle sensitive issues between the two countries, particularly the Taiwan issue, in order to promote the China-U.S. relations of constructive cooperation to a higher level, he said. Mr. Obama said China is a great nation and that China’s development and success meet U.S. interests. On today’s international arena, U.S.-China ties are of vital importance. The development of U.S.-China relations is not only in the interest of both nations, but also benefits the world, he said.

Mr. Medvedev, who had earlier sent a message to Mr. Obama following his election, called up Mr. Obama to personally congratulate him on his “impressive” victory.

“The two expressed their desire to engage in constructive and positive interaction for the benefit of international stability and development. In this regard, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama understand the need for a bilateral meeting in the near future,” a Kremlin release said. Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not rule out that Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Obama could meet in Washington next weekend on the sidelines of G-20 summit. — Xinhua, PTI

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