China backs EU approach on Iran

BEIJING - China has declared its support for a European plan to offer Iran sophisticated nuclear technology if it scraps uranium enrichment work that Western countries suspect is part of a quest for atomic bombs.

"China approves of the Europeans' important stance of striving to solve the Iran nuclear issue through peaceful negotiation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said of the proposal.

But Iran again insisted that it would pursue enrichment, in defiance of UN demands that it desist.

"Iran's decision to preserve this right (to enrichment) is definite and irreversible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a statement.

He said no proposal should violate what he said was a right to enrichment enshrined in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The European Union, with cautious US backing, plans to offer Iran more incentives to halt sensitive atomic work, while backing a UN resolution authorising sanctions if it refuses.

Russia said it shared China's opposition to any Security Council measure penalising Iran or legitimising military action.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday the EU could share the most sophisticated civilian nuclear technology with Iran if it stopped enriching uranium on its soil.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman suggested that Iran should react positively to the EU proposal and said all sides should try actively to restart negotiations.

The EU plan should "promote the goal of non-proliferation and take into account the reasonable concerns of Iran", he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, visiting Beijing, said negotiation was the key to resolving the dispute.

"We should not isolate Iran nor put pressure on Iran," he said after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

"Neither Russia nor China, as we confirmed today, can support the language of a possible Security Council resolution which would include the pretext for coercive, or moreover forceful, actions," the Russian foreign minister said.

He said Russia was concerned that Iran had not answered all the questions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"The Iranian side has repeatedly promised to do this and we count on this happening in the very nearest future," he added.

After three years of investigation, the IAEA has said it still cannot confirm that Iran's nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, but has found no proof of a military programme.

Solana said the EU offer, to be presented to Iran at the end of May, would go beyond a package of technological, economic and political incentives rejected by Tehran in August.

Iran's Asefi appeared to dismiss the latest EU package in advance, saying that no incentive was required beyond implementing NPT and IAEA rules without discrimination.

"I am recommending to Solana, if he is looking for diplomatic and peaceful solutions, he should not look for something beyond accepted international treaties and refrain from making such irresponsible remarks," Asefi said.

The NPT says signatories may research, develop and produce nuclear fuel for peaceful use. Western officials say Iran must prove its aims are peaceful before it can exercise such a right.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in Tokyo that Iran as an NPT member has the right to peaceful use of atomic energy but should not be allowed to have nuclear arms.

Iran concealed its enrichment research for 18 years before it was disclosed by an exile opposition group.

After Washington restored full diplomatic ties with Libya yesterday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Iran to emulate Tripoli by abandoning unconventional weapons programmes.

But analysts said Tehran was unlikely to imitate what it would see as a humiliating climb-down to its US adversary.

"Given the Iranians' obsession with dignity, inviting them to follow Libya's example is like slapping them with a wet cloth," said Rosemary Hollis, director of studies at London's Chatham House who recently visited Tehran.

She said the new EU package was partly a genuine effort to convince the Iranians to scrap enrichment and partly an attempt to seize the diplomatic high ground if they refused to do so.

"This is more or less calling their bluff," she said. "The EU is saying: 'If it is true that you don't want the bomb, only a civilian nuclear programme, then here's what you do'."

- REUTERS