BEIJING -- The six-party talks will be one of the issues to be discussed in the 7th annual meeting of leaders of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK), to be held in Philippines in mid-December, according to Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai.

"It will be natural for Chinese, Japanese and ROK leaders to exchange views on the six-party talks, as it is a issue of common concern and the three countries are all involved in the talks," said Cui at a press conference here Wednesday on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's upcoming visit to Philippines for a series of meetings from December 11 to 14.

The meetings, to be held in Cebu City of Philippines, will include the 10th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) plus Three (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) summit, the 10th China-ASEAN summit, and an east Asian regional summit, as well as the 7th China, Japan and ROK leaders' meeting.

Cui said China hoped the six-party talks would restart as soon as possible and had made continuous efforts in this regard.

"However, the early resumption of the talks does not depend on the sole efforts of China, but needs joint efforts of all the other parties," said Cui.

He stressed that the key problem was to make the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue come back to the track of peaceful solution through dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible.

Chief negotiators of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States had held bilateral and trilateral talks in Beijing on November 28 and 29. The three sides agreed to resume the six-party talks as soon as possible but still did not set a date for the resumption of the talks.

The talks, involving China, the DPRK, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan, Russia and the United States, have been stalled since November last year when the DPRK refused to return to the talks in protest at US sanctions.