“Oil-Hungry” China Lashes Out On Iran
BEIJING, Nov 20 (AFP) Nov 20, 2007
China hit out Tuesday at what it called “groundless” US accusations that it was blocking moves to pressure Iran on its nuclear programmes, but refused to commit to new talks on tougher sanctions.
“Some on the US side have made groundless accusations against China and this is not in line with the facts,” foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters.
“We believe China and the US have common interests on this issue. That is, to safeguard the international non-proliferation regime.”
A meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany was due to take place on Monday in Brussels to discuss possible sanctions aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear drive.
But it was cancelled after China, which opposes sanctions on Iran, said it would not attend.
Liu said on Monday that China’s representative could not attend because of a scheduling conflict, and not for any other reason.
However Liu on Tuesday declined to commit to Chinese participation in any rescheduled meeting on sanctions, saying China instead favoured a negotiated settlement with Iran.
Last week the US envoy to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, accused China of stalling on sanctions designed to punish Iran’s refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
A US spokesman also blamed the scuttled Brussels meeting on Chinese “reticence”.
US officials have been trying to ratchet up the pressure on Tehran after the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had made “substantial progress” in revealing information about its atomic programme, but still needed to be more forthcoming.
Russia and oil-hungry China, however, have consistently opposed sanctions on energy-rich Iran.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
Brazil here we come! Bush opened up new trade initiatives with Brazil and just in time, a huge oil find was just discovered there. Let’s wet boy chavez and use the southern hemisphere for our oil, keep it cheap for our economic growth and stay in the lead. F them bastards.
November 20th, 2007 at 12:05 pmWe better use the oil we have in our territory, before someone else does. To hell with the enviro-wacko racket, they have no right to stop us from being self-reliant.
November 20th, 2007 at 12:14 pm