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China urges further talk to resolve Iran issue
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-07 19:42
China said on Tuesday the Iranian nuclear standoff could still be defused
through negotiations without a showdown in the United Nations, and urged
countries to intensify efforts for a diplomatic compromise.
Chinese Ambassador
to the United Nations Wang Guangya.
[Xinhua/file] |
China voted for an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution on
Iran because it believed that decision would encourage further talks.
"The Iranian nuclear issue should be appropriately resolved through
diplomatic negotiations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters in
Beijing.
"We still hope that this kind of resolution will help promote diplomatic
resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue within the framework of the IAEA."
The IAEA decision made on February 4 calls for its chief Mohamed ElBaradei to
report to it by March 6 on Iran's response to demands that it suspend nuclear
enrichment activities and improve cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
ElBaradei may send his report to the Security Council after the IAEA meeting
in early March.
But Kong said the resolution did not oblige the IAEA to refer Iran to the
Council, and he urged all the sides to intensify diplomatic efforts and called
for Iran to abide by the resolution.
"There is still room to resolve the issue through diplomatic negotiations,"
he said.
Before the IAEA vote, China repeatedly deflected calls from Western countries
to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, instead urging Iran to settle the
standoff through talks with Britain, France and Germany, known as the EU-3.
On Monday, China's Ambassador to the United Nations, Wang Guangya, also
called for negotiated settlement between Iran and the European countries.
"China prefers to have the EU-3 continue the negotiations with Iranian's to
find a long-term solution on this issue," he told reporters in New York,
according to the Xinhua news agency.
China is one of five members of the U.N. Security Council, and so can veto
proposals for U.N action against Iran. The other members are the United States,
Britain, France and Russia.
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