China could block sanctions against Iran

China on Thursday threw a roadblock in the path of a U.S.-led push for sanctions against Iran, saying that it is important to continue negotiations as long as Iran appears willing to consider a deal to give up some of its enriched uranium.

"To talk about sanctions at the moment will complicate the situation and might stand in the way of finding a diplomatic solution," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said at a conference in Paris.

After months of spurning the proposed deal, which would provide Iran with fuel for a medical reactor, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad showed a suddenly renewed interest in it this week just as France, a strong advocate of sanctions, assumed the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council. French Prime Minister François Fillon said Wednesday that he would ask the United Nations to adopt a resolution imposing "strong sanctions" against Iran because of its nuclear program.

U.S. officials had initially hoped they could push through a U.N. sanctions resolution this month or next, but China's statement Thursday suggests that it may take months of haggling to achieve that goal. That, in turn, would upend the delicate diplomatic process needed to fulfill the Obama administration's wish to see "crippling sanctions" in place early this year.

China holds a veto as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, so any U.N. sanctions resolution will be relatively weak. Indeed, one diplomat said, many of the ideas the Americans have floated, such as sanctioning Iran's central bank, are "on the conservative end of the spectrum" in order to win quick approval. But diplomats said the United States cannot leapfrog to the tougher sanctions now without losing China's support for a U.N. resolution.

lessee....we give the chicoms our missle targeting technology via Bill ‘Peronies’ Cliton and his buddies at Loral.....the Chinese give that information to Iran....zer0, bows and bows to the scum in Iran.....and sits quietly by while Iran launches satellites and is about to finish making their A-bomb.

Whats the problem???(sarc)

the idiots of both parties have allowed china this leeway. over 20-25 years. they screw us every day in trade deals and currency manipulation, and we accept it because it’s easier at that moment to allow the easy wrong over the hard right. we should manufacture our own goods here, even if at a higher cost, and we should not allow china to own so much of our debt. they are more than happy to let iran spiral out of control and cause us to spend yet more money and attention on the middle east. they might even come to iran’s aid.

what could they do if we default on our loans and they decide to take over, say central america or even mexico? america is an enemy to the chinese communist party. and we have resources. they have too many people. it’s only a matter of time.

in the end, we still have fuel in our nuclear missiles if they decide they’re going to attack. but hell, for all i know they could knock out every guidance satellite used to get them to their target, or tap into our electrical grid and shut down half of our defense establishment during a war. and that’s absolute worst case scenario. more likely they’ll just tell us exactly what to do from now on.

im not paranoid, either. this is a serious issue that nobody in washington cares about.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.