Iran's Nuclear Conflict China Ready to Lean on Iran
China looks like it is willing to play an active role in ongoing negotiations on Iran's atomic energy program. German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week called up Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who offered to exert some influence on Tehran. China's involvement is a boon for German diplomats who feared being overly dependent on the United States and Russia in their struggle to bring Iran to the negotiating table. China's influence weakens this dependency and ratchets up pressure on Tehran. China has massive economic interests in Iran -- in autumn 2004, the countries signed a $10 billion gas deal.
If formal negotiations do go ahead, the US, Russia, China and the so-called EU3 (Great Britain, France and Germany) would sit down for talks with Iran on the future of its nuclear program. In a surprise move the US has expressed its readiness for further talks with Tehran after 27 years of official silence. Moscow also seems to be ready to give ground on the issue. When EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana paid a flying visit to Tehran last week, accompanied by British, French and German officials, Russian Foreign Minister Sergej Kisljak was also on the plane. Solana and the four diplomats proposed a trade-off. In return for economic and defense assistance, Tehran must agree to suspend its nuclear enrichment program. The diplomats didn't leave behind any kind of paper trail in Tehran, and the offer was only made orally.
