Chinese Commentary on Iran Nuclear Case

If you’ve only been briefed by American MSM sources about the latest page in the saga over Iran’s nuclear program, you might be thinking that finally, the great powers, including China and the Soviet Union, are now on board with the United States. On July 11, US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack confidently declared that there were “no divisions” among the “P5+1” countries (the veto wielding UN Security Council members plus Germany) regarding their willingness to move towards “punitive measures” against Iran.
That characterization would be news to China, one of the P5. Today (19 July), the US government’s own “Open Source Center” released a translation of an interesting commentary appearing on Junly 13th in China’s official news agency, Xinhua Domestic Service. I append the document below.
After a rather balanced and positive rendition of key recent developments, the commentary includes striking interpretations of Iran’s ongoing “room for maneuver,” US Ambassador John Bolton’s “desperation” (sic), and a pointed reference to the Russian view that “sanctions at this moment will undermine the positive trend that is emerging.”
As this is, after all, an official Chinese news source, China’s own stance is left as ambiguous and non-committal: China remains opposed to nuclear weapons proliferation, maintains that “the best option is to peacefully settle the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic negotiations,” and hopes that “all concerned” could soon resume talks “on the basis of the package proposal.”
No “slam dunk” here.

(Commentary is by reporter Yan Ming in the “International Observation” column, and is entitled, “Iran Nuclear Issue: The ‘Ball’ Again is Kicked to UN Security Council”)

Paris, 13 July (Xinhua) — The foreign ministerial meeting of the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany held in Paris made a decision on 12 July deciding to again refer the Iran nuclear issue to the UN Security Council, making ripples again to the Iran nuclear issue, which had been comparatively quiet for some time. A statement read by French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy after the meeting said the meeting had no choice and could only do that. Thus, the ball of the Iran nuclear issue was again kicked to the UN Security Council.

Attitude of the West Gradually Becomes Tough

The statement of the meeting said: In early June, the foreign ministers of the six countries offered a new package proposal to Iran asking it to temporarily suspend its uranium enrichment activities. Now, five weeks have passed, Iran “has not shown any indications of preparations to seriously discuss the matter,” neither has it suspended its uranium enrichment activities. Under these circumstances, the meeting had no other choices but decided to again refer the Iran nuclear issue to the UN Security Council.
The new proposal of the six countries handed over to Iran more than a month ago by Solana, senior representative of EU for diplomatic and security policy, included a package of incentive and punishing measures asking Iran to temporarily suspend its uranium enrichment activities. An analysis by an expert says the proposal mirrors the stance of striving to settle the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic negotiation. Since then, the US hostile attitude toward Tehran has begun to soften, and it expressed its willingness to directly hold talks with Iran. It may well be said that the new proposal has opened up a “window of opportunity” for settling the Iran nuclear issue through negotiation.
However, for some time after that, Iran did not formally reply to the proposal. For this reason, Solana three times met with Larijani, Iran’s top negotiator for the nuclear talks. A report said that the two persons parted unpleasantly after having a consultation in Brussels for several hours on 11 July. The statement of the six countries handed over to Iran on 12 July was drafted on the basis of the report of Solana. The statement said: All of the parties agreed to work to pass a resolution at the UN Security Council so that the demand by the IAEA that Iran temporarily suspend its uranium enrichment program has a “binding force,” and if Iran refuses to comply with the resolution, it might face a sanction.

Iran Urges for Maintaining “Patience”

At a press conference in Brussels on 11 July, Larijani said that Iran was studying in detail the substance of the new proposal. He said: There is no need for all of the parties to hold a suspicious attitude toward Iran’s act, and they should allow more time to make the talks successful. Both EU and Iran have to make great efforts to create a good foundation for the talks, and the talks “require patience”. This will be a “prolonged process”. If one side adopts a hard-line or radical approach, the talks will easily suffer a setback.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad said Iran will make a formal reply to the proposal of the six countries by 22 August. Toward this end, some Western media have reported that the United States and other Western countries are worried that Iran is deliberately taking up time so that it can keep carrying out its nuclear program, and therefore they compellingly gave an ultimatum. However, some Iranian reporters have said that the Iranian leadership probably still has differences on the proposal of the six countries, which may be the reason why Iran so far has been unwilling to make a formal reply. Some Iranian government officials said on many occasions that pressures should not be casually applied to Iran on the nuclear issue.

Where Will Iran Nuclear Issue Go

What does it mean that the “ball” of the Iran nuclear issue has been kicked back to the UN Security Council? How will the tussle between Iran and the United States develop in the future? A report said that US Representative to the United Nations Bolton said on 12 July that he hoped that, beginning the following week, the UN Security Council would begin to study a relevant draft resolution asking Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program. This demonstrates US feeling of desperation on this issue. However, the statement of the six countries issued on 12 July still gave Iran a room for maneuver, and once again urged Iran to give a “positive response” to the proposal of the six countries, and reiterated that, if Iran complies with the relevant decisions of the IAEA and UN Security Council and goes to the negotiation table, “a new action will not be taken at the UN Security Council”. (emphasis added)
In an interview on 12 July with foreign media, Russian President Putin pointed out that imposing sanctions on Iran at this moment will undermine the positive trend that is emerging in the process of settling the Iran nuclear issue. Putin said: If we impose sanctions on Iran just because Iran currently has not replied to the proposal of the six countries, it can only undermine the positive trend that just began to emerge from the talks. The Iran nuclear issue has dragged on for many years, and so we may as well wait for another three weeks and then a turning point might come. He added that we should not be too hasty on the Iran nuclear issue.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui, who attended the foreign ministerial meeting in Paris, said on that day that China has consistently been opposed to proliferation of nuclear weapons, and China holds that the best option is to peacefully settle the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic negotiations. He expressed the hope that all parties concerned would work together to resume the talks on settling the Iran nuclear issue on the basis of the package proposal.
Now that the “ball” of the Iran nuclear issue has been returned to the court of the UN Security Council, how the UN Security Council will return the ball will be the focus of concern and attention of people around the world.