The latest round of six-party talks on Korean nuclear issues will continue today, but it is nearing an end, Chinese delegation spokesman Liu Jianchao said in Beijing yesterday.
Liu did not provide a timetable on when the talks may wrap up.
Chief US negotiator Christopher Hill, however, said he expects to leave the discussions this afternoon.
Hill said last night that the latest version of a joint statement drafted by China represents a "great opportunity" for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Hill said the draft is "an effort to bridge the remaining differences," which he believed are "difficult but certainly not insurmountable."
North Korea maintains the right to operate a civilian nuclear power program and wants America to supply it with a light-water reactor in exchange for giving up atomic weapons efforts - requests Washington has denied.
The six chief negotiators - representing North Korea, the United States, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan - exchanged views on the draft joint statement at two meetings of the delegation chiefs yesterday.
"There is still a possibility of reaching an agreement,'' Japanese chief negotiator Sasae Kenichiro said yesterday afternoon as he returned to his hotel.
Hill said yesterday morning that differences over the wording of the draft remained.
"The issue is how we express the elements in the text," said Hill, adding that the US delegation prefers a less ambiguous statement.
"But we are trying to work with it, and we are really trying to reach something with it. We are setting principles, but agreeing on general principles doesn't mean you create ambiguities and lead the way to confusion and problems in the future."
China submitted its new draft on Friday, setting out the DPRK's right to a civilian nuclear program and a light-water reactor, according to Russian negotiator Alexander Alexeyev.
If accepted, the document would be the first of its kind since the talks began in 2003.