China has promised the US it would end its assistance to Iraq that led to last week's air strikes by US and British warplanes against air defense sites near Baghdad, President George W. Bush said on Friday.
Details of the Chinese reassurance to Washington were not immediately available. Charges by the US that Chinese technicians were helping Saddam Hussein build advanced fiber optics communications capabilities threatened to become a new irritant in US-China relations.
"We had a little bit of news today that the Chinese responded to our inquiry," Bush told reporters at a news conference with Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David, the presidential retreat northwest of Washington.
"If I could paraphrase, it was, you know, `if this is the case, we'll remedy the situation,'" Bush said.
He said he would trust Beijing to fulfill its pledge and withdraw its technicians. "I think you've always got to begin with trust until proven otherwise," he said.
Blair and Bush held a lengthy discussion about Iraq and their desire to strengthen international sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime.
They acknowledged a need to adjust the sanctions to focus more strongly on the Iraqi regime and deflect international criticism that the sanctions hurt the Iraqi people instead.
US concerns were first raised to Beijing in January after pilots patrolling the southern no-fly zone reported that Iraqi air defenses appeared to have improved their coordination and accuracy.
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