Posted on 09/27/2002 7:42:04 PM PDT by mjp
Paris (CNSNews.com) - French President Jacques Chirac received Chinese support Thursday for his proposed two-part United Nations resolution seeking to force Iraq to readmit weapons inspectors.
After a meeting with the Chinese Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Chirac's spokeswoman Catherine Colonna announced that the two leaders confirmed they were against using force on Baghdad unless Iraq refuses to allow the inspectors to return without conditions.
France has opposed President Bush's request for a quick and sole U.N. resolution to authorize military strikes if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein does not allow new inspections.
Under President Chirac's proposal, the first resolution would demand the return of the inspectors to Iraq after a four-year absence.
If Iraq continues to refuse the inspectors, France would then agree to a second Security Council resolution to allow military action.
Although Iraq has agreed to allow inspectors back into the country, Washington says the offer is a just a stalling tactic.
France and China - along with the United States, Britain and Russia - are permanent voting members of the Security Council and hold veto power over council resolutions.
In a television appearance Thursday evening, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin supported Chirac's position and said that "everything should be tried before a war."
The prime minister repeated that France was against the use of force but would push for a U.N. resolution to demand the return of the inspectors to Baghdad to verify if Iraq was really stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
Raffarin also said that a war against Iraq would have to be internationally approved by the United Nations if it is to be legitimate.
Chirac's spokeswoman also said that the French president had phoned Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and that Russia shared France's view that the Iraqi problem should be resolved through U.N. action.
A State Department official is expected to arrive in Paris on Friday for negotiations on France's position on a military intervention in Iraq. Marc Grossman will then travel to Moscow in an effort to earn Russia's support for a new U.N. resolution against Saddam Hussein.
Russia has argued that a new U.N. resolution is unnecessary because of Saddam's promise to allow inspectors back into Iraq. Reports indicated that the United States and Britain have already agreed on a new resolution, although details of the proposal had not yet been released early Friday.
Earlier in the week at a summit meeting in Denmark, President Chirac called on the United States not to act unilaterally against Iraq. He warned about the consequences of an American-led attack on Baghdad, saying it would disrupt the cohesion of the international community on fighting terrorism.
The French president said a U.S. war against Baghdad would have serious consequences in the Middle East.
Chirac also said it was up to the Security Council to debate the issue and to approve the use of military force.
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