Sanctions harm all

Updated: 2012-01-12 08:06

(China Daily)

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Since the beginning of the year, confrontation between the United States and Iran has shown no sign of abating, instead it continues to escalate, fueling concern that it might soon get out of control.

To press Iran to abandon its nuclear program, the US-led West has stepped up efforts to impose more sanctions on the country. The European Union is mulling over when to start an embargo on Iranian oils.

To add further force to the sanctions, the US is now trying to persuade countries including China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Turkey not to purchase Iranian oil.

Like many in the world, China conducts energy and trade cooperation with Iran in a normal, open and transparent way. It has nothing to do with Iranian nuclear issue and accords with resolutions of United Nations Security Council.

In fact, all the hullabaloo about preventing Teheran from pursuing its nuclear agenda is part of Washington's attempt to sustain the US' worldwide supremacy.

In the Pentagon's newly released document on sustaining global leadership, Iran is singled out, along with China, as standing in the way of US power projection in the world.

And of course, in an election year, drumming up international issues also helps the Obama administration to divert attention from the US' domestic woes.

However, the Middle East country remains an important energy supplier for many countries in the world. It is selfish as well as damaging to the prospects for a global economic recovery for Washington to impose its own agenda on others and to press them to buy their oil elsewhere.

Given that there is yet no ironclad evidence indicating Iran is conducting nuclear weapons research, the only reasonable solution now is that the International Atomic Energy Agency should resume contacts with Iran and the G5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) shall increase their contacts and dialogue with Iran too.

As a key member of the UN Security Council, China remains true to its consistent conviction that conflicts between member countries should be resolved under the UN framework. Any attempt to bypass the UN in resolving conflicts more often than not turn out to be failures.

Iran should do more to convince the rest of the world that it is pursuing a peaceful path toward nuclear energy utilization, and Washington should refrain from any reckless moves.

(China Daily 01/12/2012 page8)