On October 19, Mr. Zhu Bangzao, Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commented on the first Summit between President Jiang Zemin and U.S. President Bush in Shanghai.

Zhu said that the first summit between the two heads of state is constructive and fruitful. The two sides reached broad consensus on a series of issues, which are vital to the development of the Sino-U.S. relations in the next period of time.

The meeting between the two leaders was conducted in a friendly and candid atmosphere. There is good chemistry between the two leaders.

Although the world has entered the information era, the development of communications technology can never replace face-to- face exchange of views between leaders, because the face-to-face interaction involves personal emotions, Zhu quoted Jiang as saying.

Zhu said that President Jiang and Bush agree that the meeting is very successful and the two sides have reached broad consensus. Both leaders agreed to working for a constructive relationship of cooperation, which will be of guiding significance to the development of the bilateral relations in the new century.

On the anti-terrorist issue, Zhu said both leaders agreed to establish a medium-and long-term mechanism of cooperation on combating terrorism. In the near future, government officials at a certain level will conduct consultations on this issue.