On the afternoon of June 10th, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao held a regular press conference.

Liu: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! First of all, I would like to announce three pieces of news.

First, according to the report of China's embassy in Afghanistan, at 1:00am local time on June 10th(4:30am Beijing), a band of unidentified armed people intruded into the asphalt blending site of a Kunduz road building project contracted to China Railway Shisiju Group Corporation and shot, killing 11 and severely injuring 4.

Upon being informed of this incident, President Hu Jintao and other leaders strongly condemned this inhumane act and instructed Foreign Ministry, other departments concerned and China's embassy in Afghanistan to go all out to rescue the injured and properly handle the relative work. Meanwhile, leaders also required them to assist the Afghan side in guaranteeing the safety of other Chinese personnel in Afghanistan. They asked the Foreign Ministry to convey their condolences for the dead and their solicitudes for the injured and their family members.

The Foreign Ministry and Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan immediately started their work after the incident happened. Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo has telephoned Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Aziz. The Department of Asian Affairs has also urgently called in the Afghan ambassador to China, requesting the Afghan Government to do what it takes to rescue the injured and ensure the safety of Chinese personnel in Afghanistan. At the same time, we also requested the Afghan Government to investigate the attack and bring the murderers to justice. The Department of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry has informed the competent authorities of the Ministry of Commerce of the incident and requested China Railway Shisiju Group Corporation to consider how to properly handle relative problems.

Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Sun Yuxi has flew to the scene of the incident on a plane provided by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, to handle the incident and the rescue work for the injured.

China Railway Construction Corporation will sent a 11-member team headed by Secretary of CPC committee of CRCC to Afghanistan on June 11th, to handle the relative issues.

On behalf of the Afghan Government, Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Aziz expressed his condolences for the dead. He said that the Afghan leaders attached great importance to this incident and has instructed the competent agencies to arrest and punish the murderers and spare no efforts in helping China with the work of treating the injured and handling the aftermaths. The Afghan Government will take all measures to ensure the safety of the Chinese in Afghanistan.

 It is reported that four severely injured Chinese have been sent to the Kunduz Hospital for treatment. The German medical staff in the hospital are helping treat them.

Second, at the invitation of Prime Minister of the Republic of Tunisia Ghannouchi, President of the Republic of Togo Eyadema, President of the Republic of Benin Kerekou and Vice President of the Republic of South Africa Zuma, Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong will pay an official visit to the above four countries from 20 to 29 June.

 Third, the Third Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) will be held in Qingdao, China on 21-22 June. Twenty-two foreign ministers from East Asian, South Asian, West Asian and Central Asian countries will attend this meeting, which will be presided over by Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing. On the sideline of the meeting, the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Informal Meeting and the first meeting of the Three Party Committee of China, Japan and the ROK will also be convened.

ACD, founded in June 2002, is the only official dialogue and cooperation mechanism open to the entire Asia. This Foreign Ministers' Meeting will review the progress made in various fields within the ACD framework over the past two years, explore the direction for ACD's development and exchange views on international and regional issues.

This China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Informal Meeting is the first meeting of China and ASEAN foreign ministers since the two sides established a strategic partnership. The foreign ministers will have a free exchange of views focused on international and regional situation, ways to deepen China-ASEAN relations and their respective development strategies.

The Three Party Committee of China, Japan and the ROK was set up in line with the Joint Declaration on the Promotion of Tripartite Cooperation among China, Japan and the ROK issued by leaders of the three countries last October. The Committee, led by foreign ministers of the three countries, is mainly responsible for planning and coordinating cooperation of the three sides in various fields. 

 Now, I am ready for your questions.

Q: First of all, please allow me to convey my condolences on the loss of Chinese lives in the attack in Afghanistan. Can you brief us on the method of the attack, bombing or shooting? Who was responsible for the safety of Chinese personnel? Please confirm the exact death tolls. Has any organization claimed responsibility for the attack?

A: Thank you for your condolences on the death of Chinese engineering staff. This attack is a terrorist one. It took place at 1:00 am local time, when Chinese staff was asleep and shot by gun men, with severe casualties. During the attack, they did not receive any protection. The attack led to 11 dead and 4 severely injured. Investigation is underway. We will follow the developments of the investigation and update you with new details and information.

Q: Just now, you said that the Chinese personnel were not protected during the attack. Do you mean they were not protected by any security staff during the whole reconstruction process or only at the mid-night of that day? After the attack, has Chinese embassy sent people or asked Afghanistan to increase security staff to strengthen protection for them?

A: As far as I know, they were not protected at all in the incident. After the attack, President Hu and other Chinese leaders gave important instructions on it. President Hu strongly condemned the inhumane act and instructed the Foreign Ministry and China's embassy in Afghanistan to go all out to rescue the injured and properly handle the relative work. Meanwhile, he also required them to request the Afghan side and the UN Assistance Mission to conduct full investigation and guarantee the safety of other Chinese personnel in Afghanistan. China will stay in contact with the parties concerned, including the Afghan Government and UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, and ask them to take effective measures to ensure the personal safety of all the Chinese personnel in Afghanistan.

Q: Will this incident affect China's labor export to Afghanistan?
A: China will not surrender to terrorism in any form. China and Afghanistan have a tradition of friendship and have forged good cooperation so far. We will continue to participate in the reconstruction process of Afghanistan.

Q: Will this incident affect other China's assistance projects in Afghanistan, in particular, those large-scale projects, such as the Parwan Irrigation Project and the Kabul Republic Hospital? How are the security measures for these projects?

A: This attack should draw serious attention by China, Afghanistan and the UN Assistance Mission. To ensure a smooth process of the Afghan reconstruction, more attention should be paid to the protection for assistance staff from various countries, with China included. We request Afghanistan to draw lessons from this incident and take more effective measures to guarantee the safety of Chinese personnel in Afghanistan.

Q: Did China receive any threat or demand for ransom ahead of the incident? Has the terrorist attack affect China's policy towards the engagement in Afghanistan's peace process?
A: I have not heard any pre-attack warning or threat. We want to reiterate that the Chinese Government and people will not surrender to terrorism in any form. Meanwhile, we call for the international community continuing to step up cooperation in combating terrorism.

Q: Please tell us the identities of the 11 dead Chinese and the total number of Chinese assistance staff in Afghanistan?
A: Our embassy in Afghanistan is trying to identify the dead and injured. Most of them arrived at Kunduz only last night, thus not familiar with each other. It takes time to identify them. We will provide you with exact information when we receive confirmation. To our knowledge, we have hundreds of assistance staff in Afghanistan, 123 of whom are CRCC staff.

Q: Does China regard this incident a terrorist attack or an ordinary murder and robbery?

A: After collecting relative information, our country's anti-terrorist agencies made an initial judgment that it is a terrorist attack considering its timing, features and targets.

Q: Several months ago, people believed that the Chinese seemed to be free from terrorist attacks. But in recent months, Chinese citizens have been attacked twice overseas. Can you explain it?

A: Do you refer to this incident and the attack in Pakistan?

Journalist: Yes.

A: As for the attack in Pakistan, we are working together with Pakistan and doing our utmost in the investigation for further clues. But no much headway has been made. On this tragedy in Afghanistan, we judge by all evidences and signs that it is a terrorist attack. Actually, China has for long been a target and victim of terrorist attacks. We stand for combat against terrorism in any form and maintain that the international community should take effective measures to enhance cooperation on the fight against terrorism.

Q: Will China send any representative to the funeral of Mr. Reagan?

A: According to the information I just got, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing will be sent as the special envoy of President Hu Jintao to attend the funeral of President Reagan.

Q: The US proposed in its annual report on China's military power that Taiwan should target its missiles at the Three Gorgeous Dam to prevent the Mainland from invading Taiwan. What's your comment?
A: If what you said about the report is correct, it's full of cold war mentality with ulterior motives.
The Chinese Government maintains an unswerving position on the Taiwan question. We will exert our utmost sincerity and the maximum efforts to strive for a prospect of a peaceful reunification but we will never allow "Taiwan's independence". Nor will we allow anybody to separate Taiwan from China in any way. Nothing can shake the firm determination of the Chinese people to realize the unification of the motherland.
We urge the US to take concrete efforts to fulfill the commitment stated by President Bush on many occasions, namely, adhering to the "one China policy", abiding by the Three Joint Communiqués and opposing to Taiwan's independence. The US should not send any wrong signals to the Taiwan separatists so as not to undermine the stability across the Straits and the interests of the US itself.

Q: Is there anything China wants to add to Tuesday's comment on President Reagan's contribution to Sino-US relationship? It's reported that Frederick Qian, former "Foreign Minister" of Taiwan will also attend Reagan's funeral, what's your comment?
A: My comment Tuesday is quite clear on the important efforts made by Mr. Reagan in the normalization and development of China-US relationship when he was the US President. I have nothing new to add to that.
With regard to your second question, China is firmly opposed to any official exchanges or those with an official nature between the US and Taiwan.

Q: Has the date for the third round of the Six-Party Talks set? If not, what's the problem? What expectations does China have for the talks?
A: There are lots of reports concerning the date of the third round. Some even suggested that Chinese officials announced the date, which are inaccurate and irresponsible. During the first working group's meeting of the Six-Party Talks, various parties reiterated the consensus reached during the second round, which is to hold the third round before the end of June. Various parties are working for that and have made proposals on the date of the talks. China has listened to their proposals and is going to hold consultation on the basis of that so as to reach a consensus at an early date. We will keep you updated once it's been confirmed so that you can run timely news report of it.
With respect to the expectations of the talks, it's a very important meeting following the previous two sessions and another important measure in the process of a peaceful settlement of the nuclear question. We wish the meeting a success, the key to which is full preparation. In the meantime, when there's still a gap of views among various parties, we hope them to take a positive and constructive attitude by demonstrating flexibility, seeking and expanding consensus and actively exploring proper solutions. As we pointed out on many occasions, given the complicity of the Korean Peninsular nuclear question, it's not easy to make progress. Therefore we must be patient and not to hold our expectations too high. We hope to make progress out of each round, even if it's only a small step forward.

Q: Which is more important for China, to make sure the third round of the Six-Party Talks to be held before the end of June or to ensure substantive results out of it?
A: To China, which also applies to the other five parties, the most important is to keep the mechanism of the Six-Party Talks, the process seeking a peaceful solution running and to finalize relevant consensus and obtain substantive improvements. With respect to the specifics of the meeting, the way of discussion, the topics for discussion and the arrangements of the meeting, including the date, consensus is yet to be reached on the basis of full consultations among various parties so that the third round can be held on a fully deliberated basis. China has no difficulty and remains to be open to the date.

Q: Some are suggesting that China should play a more active role in the Six-Party Talks instead of only hosting the talks. Does China intend to do that?
A: In the process of seeking a settlement of the Korean Peninsular nuclear question and the Six-Party Talks, China is the host, important mediator and the participant of the talks. China will continue to take an active and voluntary part in the process seeking for a peaceful solution to the Korean Peninsular nuclear question and play a role of encouraging talks and promoting peace.

Q:In his interview with the New York Times, Vice Foreign Minister of China said that the US didn't provide convincing proof of DPRK's uranium program, Can you confirm? Will that influence the six-party talks?

A: I've also read relevant reports. I need to stress here that China's position on the Six-Party Talks and the Korean nuclear question remains unchanged and consistent. Various parties have different proposition on the uranium enrichment. We hope to get it clarified and settled through dialogue and consultation. China has maintained close contact with the US on the Korean Nuclear question. Both sides know very clear of each other's position. In the interview, Vice Foreign Minister Zhou reiterated China's consistent position on the Korean Peninsular nuclear question.
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