WASHINGTON – The Obama administration hailed talks by the US special envoy to Sudan in Beijing to discuss the Darfur region and a peace agreement between the African country's north and south.

Scott Gration "had very positive meetings" with China's special representative for Darfur Liu Guijin, a State Department spokesman, Karl Duckworth, told AFP.

"They discussed deepening US-China cooperation over shared concerns in Sudan," he added.

China's foreign ministry said Gration also met with Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi.

Gration, a retired US Air Force general, participated in Doha on Wednesday in the first ever meeting of the Darfur envoys from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) and the European Union, Duckworth said.

The United States sees China as a key to ending the six-year war between the Arab government in Sudan and rebels in the western Darfur region because it is an ally of the regime, a military supplier and an importer of Sudanese oil.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died in Darfur from the combined effects of war, famine and disease and about 2.7 million fled their homes. Sudan puts the death toll at 10,000.

As part of his tour, Gration will also visit Britain and France.

In London, Gration will attend the Contact Group on Sudan composed of Canada, the European Union, France, Netherlands, Norway, Britain and the United States which is following up on the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The agreement ended a nearly 22-year civil war between Sudan's north and south that led to the deaths of around two million people.