Beijing: China on March 11 termed the second UN resolution on Iraq as "unnecessary"
but maintained a discreet diplomatic silence on whether it will join France and
Russia in vetoing a US-UK resolution that seeks Security Council approval for war
against Baghdad.
"We feel that there is no need to table a second resolution," Chinese Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan said.
Asked whether China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, would also veto
a US-British second resolution on Iraq as declared by France and Russia, she said
there is no need for it as resolution 1441 has not yet been fully
implemented.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin in his separate phone conversations on March 10 night
with American counterpart George W Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder,
Kong said, called for unity within the Security Council and preserving the authority
of the world body.
"Great efforts should be made to maintain the unity and authority of the UN Security
Council and implement the resolution 1441 well," he quoted Jiang as telling Bush,
who called the Chinese leader for seeking Beijing's support for the draft
resolution.
Responding to a volley of questions fielded by reporters on China's ambiguous stand
on using the veto to thwart US-UK plans to launch a military strike on Iraq with UN
approval, she said, "We hope that the resolution 1441 can be implemented in full and
that the Iraqi side implement the resolution strictly and conscientiously so as to
enable the political settlement of the question," he said.
PTI
