China on Tuesday again called on Iran to start a new round of nuclear talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) at an early date, Xinhua reported.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu made the remarks at a regular news briefing.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is in Beijing on a goodwill visit to China.
Jiang said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held talks with Salehi on Monday and the two sides exchanged views on Iran's nuclear issues as well as bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common concern.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping also met with Salehi Tuesday afternoon, she added.
Salehi's three-day visit came as the European Union adopted tougher sanctions on Iran to block its nuclear program.
The EU tightened its sanctions on Iran on Monday, freezing assets of more than 100 more firms, diplomats said.
During the meeting with Yang, Salehi asked China to send experts to see its nuclear facilities, in a fresh effort to persuade the world that its atomic activities should not attract sanctions.
China did not respond to the invitation immediately, but Jiang told the news briefing that China would seriously consider the offer.
"We believe that dialogue and negotiations are the right way to seek overall, long-term and appropriate resolution of Iran's nuclear problem, " said Jiang.
China hopes Iran could start the next round of talks with the G5+1 and further enhance cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), she added.
On May 10, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili responded to an earlier letter by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, in which he welcomed talks with the P5+1 based on common grounds and in a pressure-free atmosphere.
Jalili described "respect for nations' rights and avoidance of pressure" as two very basic principles for cooperation.
Despite Iran's willingness for the resumption of talks, Ashton, who represents the six major powers, hinted on Thursday that the P5+1 would not hold additional negotiations with Tehran.
Referring to Jalili's letter, she said, "On its own, Dr. Jalili's letter does not contain anything new and does not seem to justify a further meeting."
This comes as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also expressed Tehran's readiness to hold talks with the P5+1based on mutual respect.
"The Islamic Republic has always been ready to hold talks in fair and respectful conditions," said President Ahmadinejad in a live televised interview on Monday.
Iran and the P5+1 held two rounds of multifaceted talks in Geneva in December 2010 and in the Turkish city of Istanbul last January.
In a letter sent to Iran in early February following the January talks in Istanbul, Ashton reiterated the group's position on Iran's nuclear program but also affirmed that the world powers were keen to continue talks with Iran without any preconditions.