Q: Will China send its delegation to attend the Istanbul Conference on Afghanistan to be held next week?

A: The Istanbul Conference on Afghanistan will be held on November 2. Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin will lead a delegation to the meeting.

China respects the development path chosen by the Afghan people in light of their national conditions and supports Afghanistan in launching comprehensive economic and social reconstruction. We hope the international community fully respects the Afghan government and people's choice, creates enabling conditions for reconciliation, and follow through on the assistance commitments to Afghanistan in real earnest. We are ready to work with the rest of the international community to help Afghanistan strengthen its sovereignty, autonomy and development capacity, thus laying the groundwork for a full transition to governance of Afghanistan by the Afghan people.

Q: What is China's position on the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP)? Does China consider joining the TPP?

A: We are open-minded towards cooperation initiatives that are conducive to the economic integration and common prosperity in the Asia-Pacific including the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership. Under the current circumstances, parties concerned should take into full account the differences and diversity in the development of the region, pursue an open policy of regional cooperation and make full use of existing mechanisms and platforms to advance regional integration in the Asia-Pacific in a step-by-step manner.

As regards whether China will join the TPP, the Chinese side follows its developments and is willing to keep in contact with its members.

Q: How does China see the outcome of the just concluded European Union Summit?

A: China welcomes the framework consensus reached at the European Union and Eurozone Summit on tackling the European sovereign debt issue. We hope it can help boost market confidence and promote sustainable economic growth in the European Union and eurozone, thus instilling vigor and vitality into the European integration.

China is ready to join the international community to make efforts in stabilizing international financial markets and promoting world economic recovery and growth.

Q: When will the 14th China-EU Summit be held?

A: We express our understanding of the postponement of the China-EU summit as raised by the European side. The two sides will keep in contact over this issue.

Q: The European Union hopes China can invest in the special purpose vehicle set up to solve the European debt crisis. How does China react? Please confirm the report that President Hu Jintao will have a telephone conversation with President Sarkozy today.

A: We support the active measures taken by the European Union to address the debt issue. We are ready to explore means of strengthening bilateral cooperation and expand our cooperation in trade, investment, scientific and technological, financial and other fields on the basis of mutual benefit and win-win outcome.

President Hu Jintao will talk with President Sarkozy over the phone this afternoon and exchange views on issues related to the current international economic situation and the upcoming G20 Summit.

Q: How does China view the latest situation in Libya?

A: Libya has entered a new stage of development in history. We hope Libya will enjoy social stability and launch the political and economic reconstruction as soon as possible. Giving priority to the well-being of the Libyan people and regional peace and stability, the international community should make concerted efforts to support the political transition and post-war reconstruction of Libya.

Q: It is reported that the International Department of the CPC Central Committee released information about the visit to China by Shinji Tarutoko, acting Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Japan. Is there further information about Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba's visit to China? How does China view current China-Japan relations?

A: We welcome the visit to China by Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba at his convenience. The two sides are staying in communication over the visit.

Since the beginning of this year, China-Japan relations in general have maintained the momentum of improvement and development. After the new cabinet of Japan took office, the two sides reached important agreement on continuing to advance China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefit. The Chinese Government highly values its relations with Japan. China is ready to work together with the new cabinet and all circles of Japan to increase dialogue, exchanges and cooperation in all fields and at all levels in a bid to push for sustained, sound and steady development of China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefit.

Q: Please brief us on China's arrangements of attending the G20 Summit.

A: We will release information in due course on China's arrangements of attending the G20 Summit.

The 6th G20 Summit will be held in France next week. We hope at the summit, all parties will continue the spirit of partnership featuring solidarity and mutual benefit to step up macroeconomic policy coordination and send a positive message to the market; deepen the reform of the international financial system and promote strong recovery and growth of world economy; oppose trade protectionism and advance the Doha Round of negotiations. In addition, we should continue to pay attention to the development imbalance between the South and the North and support the development of the emerging countries.

Q: Does China think that the European Union expects too much of China in solving the European debt crisis?

A: As the EU's major strategic partner of cooperation, China is always confident in the euro and the eurozone economy. We hope to see economic and financial stability in the EU and eurozone. The EU being the largest economy in the world, a steady and sound growth of the EU and eurozone economy is critical for keeping the momentum of world economic recovery. We support the EU in taking a series of active measures to address current challenges and stand ready to strengthen cooperation with the EU to jointly meet the challenges.

Jiang Yu ended the press conference with the announcement of two upcoming important events:

First, the 4th meeting of China-Russia Joint Commission on Rational Utilization and Protection of Transboundary Waters will be held in Beijing from October 27 to 28. The Chinese Chair of the Joint Commission is Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and the Russian Chair is Maria Seliverstova, head of the Water Resources Agency of Russia. Delegates from ministries of foreign affairs, environmental protection and water resources and local governments as well as experts from the two sides will attend the meeting. The meeting will sum up bilateral cooperation in the field of transboundary waters since the 3rd meeting of the Joint Commission and lay out the plan for future work. The Chinese side will have a broad and in-depth exchange of views with the Russian side in the spirit of friendly consultation, candid exchanges and active cooperation to jointly advance the cooperation between the two countries in the field of transboundary waters.

Second, disaster relief and mitigation is one of the key areas of China-Japan-ROK cooperation. Hosted by China Institute of International Studies, the Seminar on China-Japan-ROK Cooperation in Disaster Relief and Mitigation will be held in Beijing from October 27 to 28. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin will attend and address the opening ceremony. Shin Bong-kil, Secretary General of the China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, officials from departments concerned, scholars and media figures of the three countries will take part in the seminar. Discussions will center on such topics as the disaster relief and mitigation systems of the three countries, the present conditions and prospect of trilateral cooperation mechanism for disaster relief and mitigation, nuclear safety, and the role of media in disaster relief and mitigation.

As northeast Asia is prone to disasters, there is great potential for China-Japan-ROK cooperation in disaster relief and mitigation. China is ready to work together with Japan and the ROK to push for new progress in trilateral pragmatic cooperation in disaster relief and mitigation for the benefits of the three peoples.