Beijing will continue to work with all parties to set a date for the next round of Six-Party Talks, following two days of meetings with Washington and Pyongyang.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said through multiple rounds of trilateral and bilateral talks, the three sides exchanged views on pushing forward the talks in a frank and in-depth manner.

"The meetings are conducive to enhancing mutual understanding and sharing concerns," Jiang said yesterday at a press briefing.

She again urged all parties to take the opportunity to adopt active measures to achieve progress in pushing for an early resumption of the stalled talks.

Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and their counterpart from Pyongyang Kim Kye-gwan held informal discussions starting Tuesday, their first meeting since the end of October.

Talking to reporters during a brief stopover at Tokyo airport after meetings in Beijing yesterday, Hill had a warning for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"They must get out of the nuclear business and into the NPT," he said, referring to the Non-Proliferation Treaty which Pyongyang quit in 2003.

However, Pyongyang is adamant that it will not give up the country's nuclear programme. It is reported Pyongyang wants sanctions dropped and Washington to unfreeze its overseas bank accounts as preconditions for ending its nuclear programme.

According to Jiang, the inaugural meeting of the China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue will be held from December 14th to 15th in Beijing, and will be co-chaired by Vice-Premier Wu Yi and US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

The dialogue was launched by President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart George W. Bush in September as an overarching forum for discussing ways the two countries can work together to ensure their people benefit fairly from the growing bilateral economic relationship.

The spokeswoman also said Premier Wen Jiabao will attend a series of summits in Cebu, the Philippines, and pay an official visit there from December 11 to 14.

The meetings will include the 10th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) plus Three (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) summit, the 10th China-ASEAN summit, and an East Asian regional summit, Jiang said.

Wen will also chair the seventh annual meeting of leaders of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, Jiang added.

She said the 10th China-ASEAN summit will mainly discuss practical co-operation between the two sides.

"China will discuss with ASEAN on the practical co-operation for next year and put forward a series of concrete proposals, to further consolidate and raise the level of bilateral strategic partnership," said Jiang.

She said the relations between China and ASEAN have entered a new historic period, marked by a China-ASEAN joint statement that has strategically planned future co-operation, adopted at the summit commemorating the 15th anniversary of the dialogue partnership between China and ASEAN held at the end of October in Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

On the seventh China, Japan, ROK leaders' meeting, Jiang said "China looks forward to deeply exchanging views with Japan and the ROK on trilateral co-operation and international and regional issues of common concern."