Remarks to the Press by President Bush and President Hu of China

President Bush and President Hu Jintao of China

Released by the White House, Office of the Press Secretary

Strelna, Russia

July 16, 2006

3:53 P.M. (Local)

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you for coming by to say hello. I remember fondly your visit to Washington, D.C., a very successful trip to our Nation's Capital and other parts of our country. I want to thank you for the discussion we've had today.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution dealing with the North Korean issue, and I want to thank you for your leadership on that, Mr. President. We're working together on the Iranian issue. We talked about the Middle East. I want to thank you very much for our continued dialogue on bilateral issues. We spent a lot of time on economics and trade.

All in all, it's a continuation of the very good dialogue we had during your trip to Washington, and I want to thank you for coming.

PRESIDENT HU: (As translated.) Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very happy to have the opportunity to meet you here. As President Bush said, just now we had a very friendly and candid discussion. To start with the discussion, I expressed my heartfelt thanks to the American side for the warm reception afforded to me during my visit to the United States in April this year by President Bush, the American government and the American people.

In addition, we also had an in-depth discussion on the China-U.S. relationship and major international issues of mutual interest. Both President Bush and I speak highly of the development of China-U.S. relationship as it is today. We also are happy to see that the agreement President Bush and I reached on comprehensively moving forward the constructive and cooperative China-U.S. relationship is being gradually implemented.

We both agreed to continue to view and handle the China-U.S. relationship from a strategic plane, I mean a long-term perspective. In addition, we also agreed to work hard to expand the convergent interests between the two countries and step up our pragmatic cooperation in the economic, trade, energy, science, technology, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and military fields.

At the same time, we also believe that we need to respect and properly address each other's concerns and properly handle the sensitive issues in the bilateral relationship, so that we can continue to move forward this relationship.

We both believe that against the current backdrop of a complex and volatile international situation, to enhance the consultation and the coordination between China and the United States on major regional, as well as international issues, serves the interests of both countries. This is also crucial to international peace and stability.

Both sides expressed their commitment to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia as a whole, and both sides agreed to continue their efforts to move forward the six-party talks, so that at the end of the day, the entire Korean Peninsula could be denuclearized in peaceful way through dialogue and in negotiations.

Both sides indicated their willingness to work together to continue to seek a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. We also discussed the situation in the Middle East.

In this afternoon's discussion, we also spent quite a lot of time in an in-depth manner on our economic ties and trade, and on the Taiwan question. I am satisfied with the discussion with President Bush. Thank you.

Released on July 16, 2006

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