The Beijing summit between the Chinese president Jiang Zemin and his US counterpart on June 27 was ``positive, constructive and fruitful'' according to People's Daily, the ruling communist party's mouthpiece.

``The meeting is a firm step towards building a constructive strategic partnership between the two countries oriented towards the 21st century and show that Sino-US relationships are maturing,'' the daily said. ``Their agreement on de-targeting each other with their strategic nuclear weapons demonstrates to the world that China and the United States are co-operative partners, not rivals.''

However, the People's Daily noted that while reaching broad agreement on international and bilateral issues, both the countries did not sidestep their differences on the question of humanrights. ``It is not strange that the two sides have differences over some issues, the important point is that these differences should not stand in the way of development of bilateral relations,'' the paper said.

The June 27 summit produced three joint statements including peaceful use of nuclear technology and injected ``new vigour'' into Sino-US economic and trade cooperation, the daily said.