¡¡¡¡BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan talked by telephone Thursday with the US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is currently in Czech Republic for a NATO summit.

¡¡¡¡Tang said the Sino-US relationship is showing a positive growth trend since President Jiang Zemin's US visit this October.

¡¡¡¡The two sides should conscientiously follow through on the consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries, strengthen dialogue and cooperation, and further keep the good momentum on the growth of bilateral ties, he added.

¡¡¡¡Powell endorsed with Tang's appraisals on the current US-China relations, and expressed his pleasure on the sound cooperation between China and the United States in many spheres, adding he hoped that the two countries should further enhance their exchanges and cooperation.

¡¡¡¡Powell briefed the Chinese foreign minister on the US views on the latest developments in Iraq.

¡¡¡¡Tang noted that the recent resolution 1441 on the Iraq issue, which was unanimously passed by the U.N Security Council, has won extensive support and welcome from the international community.

¡¡¡¡At present, the overall situation is good, he said, as Iraq has accepted the resolution, agreed to deliver relevant reports to the United Nations on time, and the advance party of the UN weapons inspection team had returned to Iraq successfully.

¡¡¡¡All the countries involved should continue to follow the spiritof cooperation and work hard toward the eventual political resolution of the Iraq issue within the framework of the United Nations, said Tang.

¡¡¡¡Tang and Powell also agreed that the two sides should keep in contact on the Iraq issue. Enditem