WASHINGTON -- The United States now has its best relationship with China in more than 30 years, Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview with CNBC-TV.
"We have a good relationship with China. I would submit it's the best relationship that the United States has had with China in over 30 years," Powell said according to a transcript of the interview on CNBC's weekly program "The Wall Street Journal Report" that was broadcast Sunday.
Powell praised China's role as a player in regional affairs and on the North Korean nuclear issue.
"I have found the Chinese leadership over the last three or four years ... to be very helpful as we worked our way through problems on the (South Asian) subcontinent, the challenge that we faced two years ago between India and Pakistan," he said.
"China is playing a very helpful role in the resolution of the problem with" the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and that "it's China that's been hosting these six-party talks and playing a leadership as well as a hosting role."
Powell said the United State has a strong economic relationship with China, and would rather "be competing with China in the world of economics than in other kinds of worlds" reported Xinhua, China's main government-run news agency Sunday.
