China urges “flexibility” in Iran nuclear dispute
Washington, 7 September (IranVNC)—China’s President Hu Jintao yesterday urged the international community to show flexibility in its ongoing standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, saying now is a “rare opportunity” for more talks.
By: IranVNC
Published: Sunday, September 07, 2008
16:30GMT—12:30PM/EST
CHINA – IRAN – NUCLEAR
Washington, 7 September (IranVNC)—China’s President Hu Jintao yesterday urged the international community to show flexibility in its ongoing standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, saying now is a “rare opportunity” for more talks.
“At present, the Iran nuclear issue is faced with a rare opportunity for the resumption of talks, and we hope all parties concerned could seize the opportunity and show flexibility, to push for a peaceful settlement of the issue,” China’s Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying.
Hu added that his country is prepared to support a diplomatic solution to the dispute, saying: “China, as always, will be committed to pushing for the settlement of the issue through peaceful negotiations, and will continue to play a constructive role to this end.”
Hu met Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday arriving in Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympics games.
For his part, Ahmadinejad was quoted by the Xinhua as saying that he hoped a solution “acceptable to all parties” would be found.
China, along with the U.S., Britain, Russia, France and Germany, has offered Iran a package of incentives aimed at persuading the Islamic Republic to suspend its sensitive uranium enrichment activities.
Iran insists that its program is purely peaceful and legal under the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT], rejecting accusations by Western powers that the country is seeking to acquire nuclear arms.
Tehran has been faced with three rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions for its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment work, and Western powers warned in July that they would press for a fourth round after Iran failed to respond favorably to the sextet’s package of incentives.
The UN and US sanctions have led many Western nations and investors to look elsewhere for their energy needs, China has remained a big consumer of Iranian oil.
The news agency of Iran’s Oil Ministry, SHANA, has said that Iran and China have signed at least ten oil and gas deals in the last year, and that oil and gas trade between the two sides has amounted to ten billion dollars in that time.
Hu and Ahmadinejad also met last week in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Sources: Xinhua, Agence France-Presse
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