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Countries must unite in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons technology, even if that clashes with their own narrow economic interests, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday. "Behind almost every conflict that we have in the Middle East, one can see the long arms and shadow of Iran," Livni said in a speech to university students in Beijing, where she is seeking Chinese support for new United Nation sanctions. "If this dangerous regime ... masters the technology of developing nuclear weapons, then the stability that we are trying to build in the Middle East will vanish," Livni said, citing Iran's support for militant anti-Israeli groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.China could play a crucial role in defusing the Iranian nuclear dispute by supporting tougher sanctions, she said, adding that pressure needed to be intensified before Iran mastered the means to produce nuclear weapons. "China on this has a crucial role as a member of the Security Council of the United Nations," she said, adding that past efforts to impose sanctions had been diluted by compromise. China, the four other permanent United Nations Security Council members - the United States, Russia, France and Britain - and Germany are preparing to discuss a possible new resolution that Western powers want to authorize intensified sanctions against Tehran. China agreed to two earlier rounds of Security Council sanctions against Tehran but, like Russia, has said it fears additional sanctions demanded by Washington and other Western powers will exacerbate tensions. Iran has shrugged off earlier sanctions, insisting its nuclear program is peaceful. "The nature of sanctions can only work if it is, and if they are, concrete, important to the other side and being taken by the international community in consensus," Livni told the audience of students and academics. Livni also said China could play a positive role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process by encouraging other Middle Eastern states to the table and encouraging what she called "moderates" in the process. Livni's visit comes in a week highlighting China's growing but still cautious role in the volatile Middle East. Jordan's King Abdullah arrives in Beijing on Monday for a visit that will also address Middle Eastern conflicts. While keeping solid ties with Israel, Beijing has sought to maintain strong ties with other Middle Eastern states that are traditional partners or supply much of its imported oil. Iran is China's third biggest supplier of imported crude oil, behind Angola and Saudi Arabia. Livni's visit to China comes on the heels of a trip to Europe last week by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts with French and British leaders and push for new UN sanctions against Iran. Olmert earlier in the month made a snap visit to Moscow to press his case. The intensive diplomacy is part of an effort to force Iran to abandon its nuclear program that Washington says is an attempt to acquire an atomic bomb. While both the French and British leaders came out strongly in favor of new Iran sanctions, China has joined fellow permanent U.N. Security Council member Russia in opposing such measures. Beijing generally shies away from signing on to measures that it considers undue interference in another country's internal affairs. China's need for export markets and energy resources has also prompted it to draw close to Iran and mute Western attempts to force the regime to change its policies.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah.....
