China hopes the new US Congress plays a constructive role in strengthening Sino-US relations, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Spokeswoman Jiang Yu made the remarks at a regular press conference in response to Democrats capturing both chambers of the US Congress in Tuesday's mid-term elections.

Nancy Pelosi, 66, became speaker-elect of the House of Representatives. She has criticized China's human rights record, opposed normal trading relations with China in the 1990s and was against Beijing being awarded the 2008 Olympics.

Developing healthy and stable Sino-US ties is the consensus reached by both Republicans and Democrats, said Jiang.

"We believe that all people of insight in the US, including Republicans and Democrats, hold similar views (that good bilateral ties serve the interests of the two countries),"said Jiang.

Turning to the resignation of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Jiang said China will continue to make efforts with the US to strengthen military exchanges, increase mutual understanding and trust, and handle each other's concerns sensitively.

After years of defending his secretary of defence, US President George W. Bush announced Rumsfeld's resignation within hours of the Democrats' triumph in congressional elections.

The Iraq War was the central issue of Rumsfeld's nearly six-year tenure, and unhappiness with the war was reportedly a major element of voter dissatisfaction on Tuesday and the main impetus for his departure.

Bush appointed former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Robert Gates as the new defence secretary.

East China Sea

Jiang said that Japan's concern over China's exploration of a gas field in the East China Sea was "unnecessary."

"The Chinese oil and gas exploitation are legitimate activities in China's near sea and on its continental shelf," said Jiang.

On Wednesday, Japanese officials expressed concern about the operation of the Bajiaoting platform in the Pinghu oil and gas field in the East China Sea.

On Six-Party Talks, Jiang said that Chinese and Russian vice-foreign ministers met in Beijing on Wednesday to discuss the appropriate handling of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev exchanged views on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear issue, said Jiang.

Alexeyev also met US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns yesterday in Beijing to discuss how to restart disarmament talks with DPRK.