Chinese FM to visit Vienna for Iranian nuclear issue

BEIJING -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will leave Beijing in the early hours of Monday morning to Vienna in Austria, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday evening.

Wang will attend negotiations for a comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue, spokesman Hong Lei said.

Wang and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad-Javad Zarif held a phone conversation on Nov. 16 over the Iranian nuclear issue.

The six countries -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- are holding talks with Iran in Vienna. It is hoped that a comprehensive deal would be reached by Monday that would ensure Tehran's nuclear program is totally peaceful, while, in return, Western states would phase out sanctions that have severely damaged the gulf nation's oil-dependent economy.