Still time for talks on Iran nuclear issue: Beijing
- Source: Global Times
- [02:33 February 26 2010]
- Comments
By Yu Miao
China reiterated Thursday that there was still time for more talks to resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff.
"There is still room for diplomatic efforts and dialogue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.
"We hope parties concerned will bear in mind the overall interests, and enhance consultations and dialogue in order to promote the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue," Qin said, adding that the key to overcoming current tensions was to get Tehran back to the negotiating table and reach an agreement on its nuclear fuel demands.
Qin's remarks came one day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged a UN move on new sanctions within 60 days.
"We hope that the next 30 to 60 days will see a sanctions resolution emerge," Clinton told lawmakers at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
She also revealed that "progress had been made in convincing a skeptical China that Iran sanctions are in its own best interests," according to Voice of America.
"Because of their dependence, they (China) above all should be supporting a sanctions pressure track, because an arms race in the Gulf that would further destabilize the major oil producers is not in China's interest," Clinton said.
Iran has so far failed to take up an offer from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, under which Russia would enrich its uranium and France would process it.
Reuters quoted Western diplomats as saying Thursday that China and Russia may only be persuaded to support sanctions that are more symbolic than painful.
"It's time to start haggling with the Russians and Chinese so we can get a sanctions text to the Security Council in the near future," one Western diplomat said. "We believe we can get their support, though it will come at a price."
Oleg Rozhkov, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's security affairs and disarmament department, said Wednesday that Russia would only consider sanctions aimed at strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime. He rejected the idea of targeting banks and the energy sector.
"Qin's words represent China's stance, which is unlikely to change in the next 60 days," Wang Jinglie, director of the Middle East Studies Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. "Clinton's new sanctions might fall on Iran's import of refined oil products, which would be opposed by Russia."
"Iran's nuclear industry was established in the 1950s thanks to support from the US. Under the Atoms for Peace program, Washington provided nuclear technology and materials to the then Iranian government led by Reza Shah Pahlavi. The program was terminated in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution," Wang said.
"The US also supported the Afghan mujahideen and Saddam Hussein in the 1970s, which all backfired decades later. The Iranian nuclear issue is just another problem started by the US," Wang added.
Agencies contributed to this story
