China 'to free more US spies'

Mr Powell said the talks had got off to a "good start"

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has suggested a dispute with China over American residents accused of espionage could soon be resolved.

Speaking after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, Mr Powell indicated at least one US resident held on spying charges could be freed imminently.

I am pleased that several of these cases are now on their way to resolution on humanitarian grounds

US Secretary of State Colin Powell

The talks focused on the case of US-based Chinese academics Gao Zhan and Qin Guangguang, jailed for 10 years on Tuesday by a Beijing court for spying for Taiwan.

They came hours after China deported another US citizen, Li Shaomin, a Chinese-born American business professor, who was jailed in early July.

Mr Powell did not refer specifically to Mrs Gao or Mr Qin, but US officials have said Washington was seeking Mrs Gao's release for medical reasons.

Mrs Gao suffers from a heart condition. Unlike Mr Li, she was not formally expelled because she is a Chinese citizen.

Gao Zhan was sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying for Taiwan

The Secretary of State said: "I am pleased that several of these cases are now on their way to resolution on humanitarian grounds and we will see that quite obviously in the next 24 or so hours."

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman later refused to confirm the American account.

Sun Yuxi told reporters he "did not hear about 24 hours" in the talks.

He added: "The Chinese foreign minister had stressed that this trial had nothing to do with US-China relations."

Powell to visit Beijing

A BBC correspondent in Hanoi, Jon Leyne, says that nevertheless it does appear increasingly likely that the Chinese want to resolve this dispute before the Secretary of State's visit to Beijing at the weekend.

The US-China talks are at the highest to take place at a political level since relations between the two countries deteriorated after an American spy plane made an emergency landing on Chinese territory on 1 April.

Mr Powell said the meeting had got off to a "good start", adding, "the relationship is on an upswing now, now that the irritations are behind us and I know they are anxious to move forward."

US officials say there are between three and five US citizens or US-based citizens who are being held in China on spying charges.