China: China strongly opposes the use of military force against Iran or Syria, a senior diplomat said on Tuesday, warning that a war in the region will be a disaster both on a humanitarian level and for the world economy. Chen Xiaodong, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Department of West Asian and North African Affairs, also said that unilateral sanctions intensify the causes of conflict rather than resolve them. Chen's remarks come a day after Vice-Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told China-based foreign reporters that
Iran's Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi (R) talks during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 5, 2012. Salehi said the Islamic republic of Iran is ready to resume nuclear talks with G5+1 (five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany). [Xinhua]sanctions alone cannot solve the Iran dispute and stressed that normal trade relations and energy cooperation between China and Iran have nothing to do with the nuclear issue. The diplomats were speaking against the backdrop of rising tension between Iran and the West over the purpose of Teheran's nuclear program. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, allegedly, to seek support from China for US sanctions on Teheran's oil industry. "We prefer negotiation and dialogue in resolving conflict between countries," Chen said. "We oppose the use of military force against Iran as it is against international law to use force on a sovereign country." Chen made the remarks during an interview with the China Daily website, the third in a series with senior officials of the ministry. Read Full: Attack on Iran 'would be a disaster' - China.org.cn
