Paris: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday warned China it risks diplomatic isolation and disruption to its energy supplies unless it helps keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Speaking in Paris, Hillary said she and others who support additional sanctions on Iran for refusing to prove it has peaceful nuclear intentions are lobbying China to back new UN penalties on the Iranian government.
She said she understood China's reluctance to impose new penalties on Iran, its third-largest supplier of oil. But she stressed that a nuclear-armed Iran would destabilise the
Persian Gulf and imperil oil shipments China gets from other Arab states in the region.
There is a new push for sanctions at the UN because of Iran's continued refusal to engage on the matter with the five permanent members of the Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - and Germany.
Administration officials have invited new talks with Iran, but with no sign that Iran wants to do business, the focus has turned to penalties.
"As we move away from the engagement track, which has not produced the result that some had hoped for, and move forward on the pressure and sanctions track, China will be under a lot of pressure to recognise the destabilising impact that a nuclear-armed Iran would have in the Gulf, from which they receive a significant percentage of their oil supplies," Hillary said.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, January 30, 2010, 10:08