Chinese, US Presidents Meet in Auckland 　　Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his US counterpart Bill Clinton started a meeting in Auckland September 11 on Sino-US relations and major international issues. 　　Chinese President Jiang Zemin and US President Bill Clinton agreed that the two countries will continue to commit themselves to the building of the constructive strategic partnership geared towards the 21st century. 　　Jiang and Clinton, who arrived earlier Saturday for the 7th informal meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC) forum scheduled for September 12-13, held an official meeting at the government house in Auckland. 　　During their "positive and constructive" meeting, Jiang said that as two great countries of important influence in the world, China and the US shoulder important and major responsibility in maintaining global and regional peace and stability, and in promoting the economic progress in the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole. 　　He said the Chinese and US economies are highly complementary to each other with a huge potential for further exchanges and cooperation in all fields. 　　The two sides should actively seek the convergence of common interests, expand cooperation, narrow differences in line with the principles of mutual respect, equal treatment and seeking common ground while reserving differences, the Chinese president said. 　　He stressed that the stable and sound development of Sino-US relations are not only conducive to the two countries, but to the whole world as well. 　　Clinton said at the meeting that the US government and himself attach great importance to furthering the US-China relations. 　　In the past six years, he has made unremitting efforts to stabilize and develop bilateral relations, Clinton said, expressing strong hope to help the bilateral relations back to the normal track in various sectors. 　　Chinese President Jiang Zemin reiterated that China will by no means commit herself to abandoning the use of force on Taiwan if there were to be foreign intervention or "Taiwan independence". 　　Jiang stressed that on the Taiwan issue, China will stick to its policy of peaceful reunification and "One country, two systems". 　　Speaking on the same occasion, Clinton said, "Our policy (toward Taiwan) has not changed, and will not change. We favor one China". 　　Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his US counterpart Bill Clinton exchanged views on China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). 　　At the meeting, Jiang said China has always been positive toward accession to the WTO. 　　China's accession to the WTO is not only in the interest of the country's economic development and its reform and opening to the outside world, but also in the interest of the establishment of a complete and open international trading system, Jiang said. 　　On the issue of acceding to the WTO, China has always insisted on the balance of rights and obligations, he said. 　　As a universally recognized developing country, China will not accept any conditions which go beyond its economic capacity, and will not harm its national interests because of this, the Chinese president stressed. 　　Presently, it is of positive significance that China and the United States have resumed negotiations on China's accession to the WTO, he noted. 　　Recently, negotiators from the two countries fully exchanged their views on the issue, which helped enhance mutual understanding, he said. 　　"We hope that the negotiations will proceed on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and that an agreement can be reached at an early date," the Chinese president said. 　　Speaking on the same occasion, Clinton said that the United States supports the early accession of China to the WTO and hopes that the WTO negotiations with China will conclude successfully as soon as possible. 　　He expressed the hope that the two sides will make further efforts to this effect. 　　During the meeting, the two presidents agreed that their present summit meeting will play a guiding role in the process of the WTO negotiations between the two countries. HomeNews 1999-09-12 Page1 Full Story in Chinese