Global General

China and Iran seek common ground on sanctions

By Cai Xiao and Hu Haiyan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-03 10:44

Nation will strive for diplomatic, peaceful solution to nuclear issue

BEIJING - Iran and China agreed during talks in Beijing that sanctions "have lost their effectiveness", chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Friday after meeting with senior Chinese officials.

"In our talks with China it was agreed that tools such as sanctions have lost their effectiveness," Jalili told a news conference, speaking via a Chinese translator.

Beijing has not commented directly on whether it is contemplating supporting further restrictions on Iran, but diplomats continue to maintain that sanctions do not offer a "fundamental solution".

Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee met on Friday with Saeed Jalili, said that China supported maintaining the validity of the international nuclear nonproliferation system and believed that the Iran nuclear issue should be addressed through dialogue and negotiation, so as to safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East.

Gong Shaopeng, a professor in international politics at Beijing's China Foreign Affairs University said a more transparent and fairer mechanism should be built to effectively solve Iranian nuclear issues rather than employing sanctions.

"The IAEA's (International Atomic Energy Agency) verification mechanism requires the subject country be open to investigation at any time in any location, which may be too loose for Iran to accept. Therefore, establishing a more impartial mechanism is necessary," he said.

Gong also said the urgent need for nuclear non-proliferation is undeniable, and therefore China should always stick to the norm and call on all nations to obey this doctrine.

China has veto power in the UN Security Council, and its support would be key to passing a resolution against Iran, which is suspected of developing nuclear weapons. Teheran says its nuclear program is for peaceful power generation but some western powers have cast doubt on these claims.

"As Iran declares that it will not give up its right to make full use of nuclear energy, there is still much doubt from the western world that Iran is committed to non-nuclear proliferation," said Zhang Xiaodong, deputy chief of the Chinese Association for Middle East Studies.

"Faced with mounting pressure from other international players, China and Iran should have more in-depth discussions," Zhang said.

"China is working towards a peaceful solution to the Iran nuclear issue, and there is still room for diplomatic efforts on this issue. As a responsible world power, China has always opposed nuclear proliferation and terrorism."

Agencies contributed to the story.