China welcomes Kerry nomination

BEIJING, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- China Monday congratulated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on his nomination as the next U.S. secretary of state.

"China is ready to work with the U.S. side to push forward the Sino-U.S. cooperative partnership to score more progress," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, while commenting on Kerry's nomination.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Hua also voiced China's willingness to build a new type of relationship between the countries.

U.S. President Barack Obama last week said he would nominate Kerry, who is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to the replace Hillary Clinton.

Clinton said she is resigned as sectary of stat but hasn't announced a date to leave the position.