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Clinton warns China to stay the course on Iran nuclear sanctions
L.A.Times
03 Febbraio 2010
Reporting from Paris - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned
China on Friday that it faced international pressure and increasing
isolation unless it joined other world powers in sanctioning Iran to
try to halt Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The admonishment from Clinton came on the same day the Pentagon
announced more than $6 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, a move certain
to infuriate Beijing and add a new complication to the U.S.-Chinese
relationship.
Clinton, speaking at a leading French military academy in Paris, said
that China and five other leading nations had been united in trying to
persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment that they fear is aimed at
developing nuclear weaponry.
But now that China is balking at joining the others in a new round of
United Nations sanctions, Clinton said, "China will be under a lot of
pressure to recognize the destabilizing impact that a nuclear-armed
Iran would have in the [Persian] Gulf, from which they receive a
significant percentage of their own supplies."
She told an audience of military experts and officers at the Ecole
Militaire that "we understand that right now it seems counterproductive
to you to sanction a country from which you get so much of the natural
resources your growing economy needs."
But she said Beijing "needs to think about the longer-term implications."
Clinton said an Iranian nuclear bomb would produce an arms race and
would convince Israel that it faces an "existential threat. . . . All
of that is incredibly dangerous."
U.S. officials believe they have finally persuaded Russia to join with
France, Britain, Germany and the United States in a new round of United
Nations sanctions. All except Germany are permanent members of the U.N.
Security Council, leaving China as the remaining holdout. Beijing
argues that the other world powers should continue to use diplomacy to
nudge the Iranians into cooperation.
U.S. officials have argued in the past that China would not continue to
hold out against sanctions if Russia joined the Western powers. But as
recently as Thursday, when Clinton met with Chinese Foreign Minister
Yang Jiechi, China had not relented.
Washington's relations with the Chinese have recently hit a rough
patch. After Clinton called China to account for Internet censorship
this month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry complained that her speech had
harmed U.S.-Chinese relations. On Thursday, in an appearance before
reporters, she was conciliatory, saying that there were multiple views
on the issue of how fully China was controlling Internet access in the
country.
But a new source of likely friction emerged Friday in the announcement
by the Pentagon that it had approved the arms sales to Taiwan.
The $6-billion package, which has been expected, does not include F-16
fighter jets, which Taiwan has sought. Under the deal as formally
announced, Taiwan will buy 60 Black Hawk helicopters, more than 100
Patriot antiaircraft missiles, two mine-hunting ships and other items.
China objects to the sale, and U.S. officials acknowledged that it
could result in a suspension of U.S.-China military ties. In Beijing,
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei called U.S. Ambassador Jon
Huntsman Jr. today to register his government's displeasure.
The sale has been in the works for weeks, and administration officials
have argued that China should not be angry, even though it pumps new
weaponry into the island, which Beijing views as a renegade province.
"We have to be mature enough . . . to continue to focus on this and do
the hard work it requires to continue to engage, even when times get
tough," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said this week.
At the same appearance in Paris, Clinton sought to reassure a nervous
Europe that the Obama administration remained fully committed to its
defense.
Speaking as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization reconsiders its core
mission, Clinton acknowledged that some Europeans fear that the United
States may not believe Europe needs help with its security, while
others are worried that the administration "is so focused on foreign
policy challenges elsewhere in the world that Europe has receded on our
list of priorities."
But she insisted that "European security is an anchor of U.S. foreign policy."
The Obama administration is relying heavily on European support on Iran
and Afghanistan. But Europeans have seen a variety of what they fear
are worrisome signs of wandering attention.
Some Eastern European countries are concerned by the administration's
decision to back away from a joint missile defense program, developed
during the Bush administration, that was to have been based in central
Europe. Other allies, including Ukraine and Georgia, have sought
assurances that the United States will stand with them in the face of
attempts by Russia to assert a sphere of influence.
On that issue, Clinton said, "We object to any spheres of influence in
Europe in which one country seeks to control another's future."
She said that sovereignty and territorial integrity were "the cornerstone of security."
She also made it clear that the United States would not accede to
Russian pressure to negotiate a broad new international security treaty
to more fully integrate Russia into the European security framework.
Some critics have said that Russia is seeking to reshape treaty agreements to give it more leverage to block NATO decisions.
Clinton also said that the U.S. retained "an unwavering commitment" to
Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which calls for all members to come fully
to the defense of any other.
At the same time, Clinton offered a separate message for the Russians
that security should not be a "zero-sum game." With the Cold War over,
there is no reason for there to be "divisions between neighbors and
partners," she said. "Security in Europe must be indivisible."
Clinton said that the Obama administration had inherited a
"deteriorating relationship with Russia," but has made progress on a
number of areas, including Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear program and the
negotiation of a new version of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty,
which officials say is close to completion.
NATO officials are in the middle of a series of meetings designed to
reconsider the alliance's central principles before a high-level
meeting on the subject in December.
paul.richter@latimes.com
Times staff writers Julian E. Barnes in Washington and Barbara Demick in Beijing contributed to this report.
Source > L.A. Times
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