All parties concerned should make positive contributions to facilitate the solution to the Darfur issue instead of doing the opposite, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said on Saturday.

China hopes to see an early solution to the Darfur issue through dialogue and peace talks, said Yang at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, or the parliament.

"On the issue of Darfur, our position has always been to promote dialogue and peace talks," he said.

"We hope to see continued progress on both the deployment of peacekeeping operations and political process," said Yang.

China would continue to support the role of the tripartite mechanism involving the United Nations, the African Union and the Sudanese government as the main channel to solve the issue, he said.

Yang said China has offered a lot of assistance to the Sudanese people and people in the war-torn Darfur region, including aid goods and 140 million yuan (US$20.5 million) of cash.

China sent the first batch of multi-functional peacekeeping contingent to Darfur in May 2006 and became one of the first countries to send peacekeepers there, according to Yang.

On Sino-African ties, the foreign minister said China and Africa are friends of minds and hearts. He expressed gratitude to African countries for their support on the issues of Taiwan, Tibet and in the hosting the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the relief of the Wenchuan earthquake last May.

Cooperation between China and African countries in the energy industry is mutually beneficial, and the two sides would continue it, he added.

President Hu Jintao, in his tour last month to Africa, said China will continue to support Africa's development and support greater say of African countries in the regional and international affairs.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2009)