March 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao after arriving in Beijing this afternoon on a mission to try to revive six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear development.

``It is good for the world if we continue to have a constructive relationship between the U.S. and China,'' the government's Xinhua news agency quoted Rice as saying as Wen greeted her.

North Korean disarmament and worsening China-Taiwan relations are likely to top her agenda in talks with Chinese leaders on her last stop in a six-nation Asian tour. Rice is expected to reaffirm the U.S.'s acceptance of the ``one-China'' principle and urge both China and Taiwan to use restraint in their dealings with each other.

Rice may try to persuade China, North Korea's closest ally, to use its clout to persuade the North to return to six-nation talks on abandoning its nuclear-weapons program.

In appearances this weekend in Tokyo and Seoul, Rice said the U.S. has no intention of attacking North Korea and won't agree to the North's call for bilateral talks that would exclude the other negotiators, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

She said the six-nation format is the only framework for turning the Korean peninsula into a nuclear-free zone.

North Korea announced on Feb. 10 that it has nuclear weapons and rejected holding a fourth round of talks. The first three rounds held in Beijing ended without agreement.

Tyranny

Comments Rice made in Seoul earlier in the day didn't contain anything new on the North Korea issue, said Peter Beck, Seoul-based director of the Northeast Asia project for the International Crisis Group. ``It means they consider the ball is in North Korea's court, and they are not taking any measures to bring them back to the table. It's disappointing.''

The U.S. administration of President George W. Bush angered North Korea last month by referring to it as an ``outpost of tyranny.'' The North said it won't return to talks as long as a ``hostile'' U.S. attitude persists. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said on Feb. 21 that his country wants guarantees that the U.S. won't attack and pledges of oil and economic aid as preconditions for more talks.

North Korea, which needs international donations to help feed its 22 million people in an economy on the brink of collapse, may already have 10 nuclear weapons, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in November.

Overseas media weren't given access to Rice when she met China's leaders today. She has scheduled a press conference tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., before her departure.

Democracy

China-Taiwan relations soured after China's National People's Congress last week passed an anti-secession law authorizing an attack against Taiwan should the island seek separate statehood or should peaceful reunification prove impossible.

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, who came to power in 2000 advocating independence, denounced the law, saying it will destabilize the region.

In remarks in Tokyo yesterday, Rice called for China to move toward democracy and urged the European Union to maintain its arms embargo against China, citing concern about a military buildup in the world's most populous nation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sue Hill in Hong Kong at shill6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 20, 2005 05:46 EST