China supports contact and dialogue between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States, spokeswoman of Chinese delegation to the six-party talks Jiang Yu said in Beijing yesterday evening.

"We hope the both sides can seize the opportunity to conduct in-depth exchange of views on each other's concern and take flexible attitude in properly resolving this issue," Jiang said when briefing reporters on the first day since resumption of the six-party talks.

According to Jiang, a meeting of chief negotiators of the six parties will be held Tuesday morning and a series of bilateral meetings and consultations are expected to be held Tuesday afternoon.

Top US negotiator Christopher Hill confirmed Monday afternoon the U.S. and DPRK sides have not yet had any bilateral meetings, but adding that he may have a bilateral meeting with the DPRK side on Tuesday, and the U.S. has always prepared to hold such bilateral talks.

Jiang also revealed that the DPRK and U.S. sides will hold consultation on the issue of financial sanctions.

"We hope the consultation will achieve positive progress," the spokeswoman said.