BEIJING : US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte met with China's foreign minister on Monday as he began a one-day visit that was expected to focus on the North Korean nuclear issue.

"We attach great importance to this visit and we also value your contribution to the development of constructive and cooperative relations between China and the US," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told Negroponte.

The two men had an hour-long meeting behind closed doors, after which Negroponte held talks with vice foreign minister Wang Yi.

He will later meet Vice President Xi Jinping before heading home and ending an Asian trip that also took him to South Korea and Japan.

One of the topics expected to be discussed on Monday is the North Korea nuclear issue.

"Shall we focus on China-US relations and also an issue of great interest to you, that is the Northeast Asia peace and security mechanism?" Wang asked Negroponte at the beginning of their meeting.

North Korea, which staged a plutonium-based nuclear test in October 2006, is disabling its plutonium-producing reactor and other plants under a deal reached in February 2007 with the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

In return for total denuclearisation, the North would receive energy aid, a lifting of US sanctions, the establishment of diplomatic relations with Washington and a formal peace treaty.

China is the host of those six-nation talks in which the disarmament deal was brokered.

North Korea last week handed over documents to the United States that will be used to help verify an eventual declaration from North Korea on its past nuclear activities.

While in Japan, Negroponte however expressed caution about how much optimism to place in North Korea handing over the papers.

"I would say this was a step in a process but it's an ongoing process," he told reporters.

- AFP/vm