China strongly opposes the practice of using the Olympic Games to hype political issues such as
Darfur, and it is in fact?disturbing the preparation works of
the Games, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu told a routine
press conference on Thursday.
"It is of apparent political intention and purpose to link the
Darfur issue with the Olympics," Jiang said in
response to the question that whether China would put more pressure
on Sudan as someone considered China's continued support for the
regime in Sudan could tarnish the Olympics.
"Such practice violates the Olympic spirit and principle, and
will never succeed." China will never, ever accept those
accusations, said Jiang, adding that international society knows
very well that China has exerted a positive and constructive
influence on the Darfur issue.
"I don't know whether those organizations know China's role on
the issue and the current situation in the Darfur region," she
said.
China has been the first country to promise and then to dispatch
soldiers to participate in peacekeeping missions in Darfur.
A 140-strong advance troop of a Chinese engineering unit has
arrived in Darfur, and the unit is gradually being deployed.
The political process and peacekeeping deployment in Darfur has
achieved progress under the joint efforts of all concerned parties,
Jiang said.
China always maintains that a "double track" strategy -- a
balanced combination of political process and the peacekeeping
mission should be applied in resolving the Darfur issue, she
said.
China also supports taking advantage of the leading role of the
Sudanese government, UN and AU (African Union) negotiation
mechanism.
Meanwhile, various difficulties may arise during the process of
the deployment of any UN-AU hybrid-mission peacekeeping
missions.
Jiang called for all concerned parties to increase cooperation
so as to resolve related issues through coordination.
"China will continue to play a constructive role in pushing
forward a proper settlement of the Darfur issue," Jiang said.
Draft UN resolution on Iran nuclear issue
The six nations have reached consensus on the major elements of
a draft United Nations resolution on the Iran nuclear issue, which says the all sides
will continue diplomatic efforts and resolve the issue through
negotiations.
Foreign Ministers from China, the United States, Russia,
Britain, France and Germany held talks on Tuesday in Berlin on the
Iran nuclear issue.
Jiang said the consensus is the result of negotiations and
discussions of the six sides.
The draft resolution also welcomes progress made by Iran and the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on resolving some
unsolved issues, and encourages them to continue the work, Jiang
said.
She called for all relevant sides to strengthen diplomatic
efforts, and take the initiative to find a creative way to break
the deadlock, so as to solve the nuclear issue in a comprehensive
and proper way.
According to Jiang, the draft resolution will be submitted to
the UN Security Council and go through further discussions of all
members of the Security Council.
"Therefore, the international community should have more
diplomatic efforts in such a crucial point for a comprehensive and
proper solution of the nuclear issue," she said.
According to Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov,
the draft resolution envisages additional measures against that
country, but they are not harsh sanctions.
The draft resolution "clearly confirms that if Iran agrees with
proposals made by the six nations, direct negotiations will be
launched to settle all issues on the Iranian nuclear program --
direct negotiations involving the six nations, including the United
States," Lavrov said.
The diplomatic standoff between Iran and the West began almost
six years ago over suspicions that Tehran's nuclear work is a cover
for an atomic weapons program.
So far, the UN Security Council has adopted two resolutions, one
in December of 2006 and the other in March of 2007, to force Iran
to suspend its uranium enrichment activities and give up its
nuclear programs.
Six-party talks
China hopes all parties involved will implement the second phase
action plan on resolving the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula
with sincerity and patience.
Jiang made the remarks when asked to comment on the latest
progress of the six-party talks, adding that all the parties
should carry out their obligations in an all-round and balanced
manner.
Jiang said the multilateral talks had made important progress,
including the disabling of most nuclear facilities at Yongbyon of
North Korea, while heavy oil and alternative material assistance
from other parties was gradually being provided to the country, and
the relationship between the parties had improved.
According to a six-party talks joint document released in
Beijing on Oct. 3 last year, North Korea agreed to disable all its
existing nuclear facilities and provide a complete and correct
declaration of all its nuclear programs by the end of 2007.
The six-party talks, initiated in 2003 and aimed at resolving
the nuclear issue, involve China, North and South Korea, the US,
Russia and Japan.
(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2008)
