Beijing: China, cautiously watching US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's visit to India and possible arms sales to New Delhi, today (Dec 9, 2004) expressed the hope that concerned parties will play a "constructive" role in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

"China as a neighbour of South Asian countries, hopes that the South Asian region will maintain peace and stability," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue said when asked to comment on reports that the US plans to sell sophisticated arms to India as well as to Beijing's 'all-weather' friend Pakistan.

"We hope that the concerned parties will uphold the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and play a constructive role for this purpose," Zhang said, commenting on Rumsfeld's visit to New Delhi and possible arms sales, including Patriot anti-missile systems.

The spokesperson did not respond to whether China raised any objection to the US arms sales to India during Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo's recent trip to Washington.

Dai, also China's Special Representative on the Sino-India boundary issue, had visited the US as the Special Envoy of the Chinese Government and had in-depth exchange of views over major issues of common interest and the next stage of development of China-US relations.