U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao telephoned one another Thursday and shared their concerns about North Korea's nuclear programme, a White House spokesman said. They also spoke about the importance of the six-nation talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear-weapons development, Scott McClellan said. North Korea has refused to take part in the discussions after three rounds of the talks in the past two years have failed to produce concrete results. "The two leaders reiterated their commitment to working together toward a nuclear-free peninsula while expressing concern about North Korea," McClellan said. "The talks are the best way forward to resolving this issue," the spokesman added. McClellan said Bush urged Hu to engage in dialogue with Taiwan to end more than five decades of hostility between Taipei and Beijing. "The president urged President Hu to continue working on ways to reach out to President Chen (Shui-bian) as the duly elected leader of Taiwan," the spokesman said. He said Hu also briefed his American counterpart on the ongoing visits to China by two Taiwan opposition leaders. --More 2359 Local Time 2059 GMT
