Reuters: China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing will attend a foreign ministers’ meeting in New York on Monday to discuss strategy on Iran, amid debate at the United Nations over how to curb Tehran’s nuclear programmes. BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing will attend a foreign ministers’ meeting in New York on Monday to discuss strategy on Iran, amid debate at the United Nations over how to curb Tehran’s nuclear programmes.
The Foreign Ministry made the announcement on its Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn), on Sunday in a one-line statement that gave no further details.
The meeting, at the invitation of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is also expected to include ministers from Britain, France, Russia and Germany and comes as France and Britain push for a vote on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution ordering Iran to end its nuclear research.
The Security Council has been bogged down over provisions in the draft that cite Iran as “a threat to international peace and security” and invoke Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter — which makes resolutions binding under international law.
China and Russia, both veto-wielding members of the council, have insisted the provisions be removed, fearing they could open the door to sanctions or even military action against Iran.
Iran says its atomic research is aimed at producing electricity but Western powers suspect its real goal is to build nuclear weapons.
