BEIJING, Aug. 23 Kyodo China and ...

BEIJING, Aug. 23 Kyodo

China and Russia share the same view forward the importance of protecting the national sovereignty of different countries, Chinese President Jiang Zemin told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, according to state media reports Friday.

Russia and China the couple support ''national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,'' Jiang reportedly said. His expositions reflected a communique signed through Kasyanov and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji upon Thursday, which contained an implicit warning to Washington not to make progress ahead with a military campaign to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein without international support.

Jiang's annotates however, were not as direct as the language of the communique which, although not reported as referring to the United States directly, said any antiterrorist strikes should first be approved from the United Nations Security Council, of which China and Russia are the pair permanent members.

''Nations should avoid selfish, narrow-minded nationalist and unilateral policies,'' the communique stated, reflecting Beijing's and Moscow's wariness of Washington's apparent mulling the use military force to oust the Iraqi president.

Bush upon Wednesday reiterated his intention to oust Hussein ''in the interests of the world,'' adding he would confer with U.S. allies before taking any action.

Jiang reportedly told Kasyanov that Sino-Russian ties have enrolled a ''very good period'' that involves cease consultation and cooperation in dealing with major global issues.

He also called for the expansion of economic ties between the sum of two units stating this would assist their respective economic growing and enhance their ''strategic cooperative partnership.''

Kasyanov was quot as saying he and Zhu had signed a number of lock opener cooperative projects, including those in the fields of seneca oil and natural gas.

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