» 01/29/2010 12:30 IRAN - CHINA Beijing-Tehran axis strengthens: China opposed to new sanctions The Chinese foreign minister meets with Hillary Clinton and stresses: "Dialogue with the ayatollahs, we must use diplomacy." On U.S. plans to toughen the sanctions at the UN headquarters, a "niet" from Moscow.
London (AsiaNews / Agencies) – There “must be dialogue” with Iran. “The issue of Tehran's nuclear program should be resolved through diplomatic efforts and negotiations". So said Yang Jiechi Chinese Foreign Minister yesterday, on the margins of the international conference of donor nations for Afghanistan. After a private meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Yang said: "We believe that we should focus on the resumption of talks."
The statement was a response to the demands of the American administration, which wants new UN Security Council sanctions against the regime in Tehran. But they have yet to convince Beijing and Moscow, permanent council members with veto rights. Clinton, for her part, stressed that "Iran has not made any effort to find a compromise with the international community on its nuclear program."
In fact, last year the ayatollahs rejected the International Atomic Energy Agency’s proposal.It suggested Iranian uranium should be enriched in power plants in the West, which then would have sent the refined uranium back to Tehran. Supported by the 5 +1 - the group that includes Britain, France, Russia, China, United States and Germany - the idea was rejected by the Ahmadinejad government.
Russia also said it was "perplexed" by the idea of tougher sanctions. The Kremlin's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, after meeting with Clinton, sided with China. Specifically, the American idea would be to financially penalize certain industries linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and especially to hit the financial sector.
Western diplomatic sources say Beijing fear’s loosing one of its largest importers of oil and natural gas. Starved of energy sources, China continues to support governments and regimes in the Third World also at the diplomatic level, in exchange for preferential access to their energy sources.
