China unlikely to support anti-nuclear sanctions against oil ally Iran

The Guardian/ here

"China will seek to stave off new UN sanctions against Tehran even as Iran ups the ante, experts on the relationship between the two countries say....

Dealing with Iran was a focus of Barack Obama's meetings with Chinese leaders last month. Some observers thought those discussions, and Russia's increasingly sympathetic stance, had shifted Beijing's position substantially; days later, it supported an IAEA motion of censure. Last week, as the US, France and Britain warned Iran it might face new sanctions, both the Chinese and Russian UN ambassadors called for patience. Zhang Yesui, China's representative at the UN, told the security council debate that Beijing was committed to negotiations with Tehran.

Yao Jide, director of the Iran studies centre at Yunnan University, said: "China is not likely to approve new sanctions. It has invested 20bn yuan (£1.8bn) on a new sea oil project in Iran." He described support for censure as a warning to Tehran rather than a fundamental change in attitude: "By going back on its word, [Iran] has made countries which supported it very embarrassed."

Yin Gang, a leading expert on the Middle East at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, added: "Personally, I think Iran did not take China's opinion very seriously and did not fully cooperate; that's what China does not like to see." Relations between Iran and China date back thousands of years. Then, as now, they worked together, with common enemies creating extra impetus for co-operation. Links were strengthened in the 70s when Mao Zedong and the shah forged an unlikely partnership to see off Soviet expansionism.

Hua Liming, Beijing's former ambassador to Tehran, said: "Although they have different political systems and ideologies, China and Iran carry out independent foreign policy and are not willing to be manipulated by the big nations in the world. China is the world's second-largest consumer of crude oil, and is determined to safeguard energy supplies. Iran has the second-largest reserves. This year they announced a $3.2bn (£2bn) gas deal. Trade volume has reportedly soared from $400m in 1994 to $29bn last year, and Iran's ambitious development plans are welcome to a country skilled in building infrastructure..."