RUSSIA: China yesterday welcomed a Russian plan for talks next week aimed at defusing the rapidly-building crisis over Iran's nuclear programme.
Iranian officials travel to Moscow next Thursday to consider a Russian offer to reprocess Tehran's nuclear fuel.
"We hope that this Russian invitation to Iran to hold talks on the 16th about participating in an international uranium enrichment centre will help break, or encourage a break, in the current stalemate over the Iranian nuclear issue," said Chinese foreign ministry official Kong Quan.
China refused to say whether it would take part in the talks, but the support of Beijing, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, is seen in Moscow as a major fillip.
Moscow officials want Iran to agree to a Kremlin proposal to reprocess Iranian nuclear fuel on Russian territory. Moscow says such an enrichment operation would remove the need for Iran to set up its own reprocessing facilities, something that the US and European nations say can be used to make atomic bombs.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Lavijani sounded positive about the plan, but stopped short of acceptance. "Our view of this offer is positive," he said. "This plan can be perfected." This plan was already discussed at an earlier meeting in Tehran last month.
But it has acquired added urgency after the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), voted last weekend for its chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, to report on Iran's decision to press ahead with reprocessing.
It is likely that this report, due on March 6th, will lead to a referral to the UN Security Council, and in turn for pressure to impose sanctions.
China and Russia have urged restraint, and Moscow has rebuked US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for saying that military action was one option.
Nevertheless, Russia has also made clear that its patience is limited and that ultimately it will act to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.
Defence minister Sergie Ivanov told a security conference in Munich: "We're against any country in the world developing nuclear weapons. We're sticking to that." Moscow has found itself in an awkward position in this crisis, because it is busy building Iran a billion-dollar nuclear power plant at Bushir.