BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay state visits to the United States, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya from April 18 to 29, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao here Tuesday.

    Hu's four-day U.S. trip, starting from April 18, will take him to Seattle and Washington D.C. He is scheduled to give a speech at the Yale University, Liu said.

    Hu will meet with U.S. President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials during his visit. The two sides will have in-depth discussions on China-U.S. relations and other international and regional issues of common concern.

    The two sides will have discussions "candidly, equally and withmutual respect". "I hope and believe that Hu's visit will further boost the development of China-U.S. relations," Liu said.

    The goal of Hu's U.S. visit is to enhance exchanges and mutual trust and expand consensus and cooperation so as to jointly promote the China-U.S. constructive and cooperative relations, he said.

    Both China and the United States are deeply concerned with certain key international issues and had some disputes, frictions and differences, he said.

    "Hu's visit will be a good opportunity for China and U.S. to narrow or eliminate the differences," he said in reply to a question on China-U.S. disputes on trade and protection of intellectual property rights.

    China will make joint efforts with the United States to expand common interests and enhance cooperation, while maintaining world peace and promoting global development through cooperation in international affairs, Liu said. 

    Six-party talks on DPRK nuclear issue

    Liu Jianchao urged all parties to the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue to concentrate on resolving the issue.

    "The most pressing issue for the six parties at present is to concentrate on resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula," Liu said.

    He urged all parties concerned to take concrete measures to fulfill the consensus reached in the fourth round of six-party talks and the commitments made by all parties.

    Liu made the remarks in response to a question on the recent visit by Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei to Japan during which Wu met with envoys of the other five countries involved in the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

    During Wu's visit, a conference on security in northeast Asia was held in Tokyo from April 9 to 11, with participants from China, Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Russia, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States.

    Wu's visit was not aimed at attending the conference, but taking the opportunity to discuss with the other five envoys the process of the six-party talks and solutions to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Liu acknowledged.

    He said Wu conducted negotiations with the other envoys and emphasized that it was conducive to keeping peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula to rely on dialogue to resolve the nuclear issue.

    The six parties all made helpful proposals during the negotiations, said Liu.

    He said China regarded the negotiations as useful and hoped that all parties would enhance exchanges and eliminate differences so the talks could resume as soon as possible.

    U.S. Assistant Secretary Thomas Shannon's China trip

    U.S. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon will visit China from April 12 to 15 to discuss Latin American affairs, Liu Jianchao said.

    This will be the first consultation between the two countries on Latin American affairs, Liu said at a routine press briefing.

    Shannon will come to China at the invitation of Zeng Gang, head of the FM department of Latin American affairs.

    Vice FM Minister Yang Jiechi will meet with him and Zeng will have talks with him.

    Main topics include: respective relations with Latin American countries, their policies on Latin America, situation of that region and their cooperation in this region.

    The consultation, part of the China-U.S. strategic dialogue, will help increase understanding and trust between the two sides, Liu said.

    Sino-Japanese ties

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao Tuesday said here China disagreed with a Japanese official's criticism of "nationalism" in China.

    In response to remarks by a Japanese Embassy spokesman that nationalism was on the steady rise in China, Liu said the Chinese government opposed ultra-nationalism.

    Liu described the remarks as a misinterpretation of the Chinese government's attitudes and positions, adding they were unhelpful in resolving historical differences between China and Japan and in improving bilateral relations.

    Japan should squarely face the crux of difficulties in Sino-Japanese relations and take concrete measures to resolve its historical problems, to return to the track of healthy growth for bilateral relations, said the spokesman.

    Iranian nuclear issue

    China hopes the upcoming visit of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei to Tehran would be beneficial to peaceful solution of Iranian nuclear issue.

    "China hopes Elbaradei would play a positive role in solving the Iranian nuclear issue within the framework of IAEA," said Liu Jianchao.

    "We hope ElBaradei's visit to Iran will be helpful to diplomatic efforts made by the international community to solve the Iranian nuclear issue through peaceful means," Liu said.

    ElBaradei's upcoming visit to Iran has been viewed as a last-ditch effort to ease the escalating tension over Iran's nuclear issue as he is expected to submit a report on Iran's compliance with the UN Security Council's demand at the end of this month. Enditem