Should China respect sanctions on Iran?

Infra_Man99

Banned Idiot
What law or treaty has Iran been violating? Under NPT, peaceful use of nuclear energy is an inalienable right, which includes the development of fuel cycle. Iran is perfectly within its right to enrich uranium to 20%, which is not even close to bomb grade (90% plus).

There is accusation of a possible bomb program, but there is no real evidence. Unless IAEA made a determination to that Iran is developing nuclear weapon, there is no factual basis for sanction. The West has no creditability over this, not when they screwed up, by intent or incompetence, over the WMD in Iraq.

If you are aiming that comment at me, then I ask you to not shoot the messenger. If you're aiming it at Russia, then I believe Russia is being political or wishy washy to sort of appease both sides: "Yes, I agree with America that Iran needs to be more law abiding, but, I also agree with Iran that sanctions are too harsh. Let us hold more discussions more." It's sort of like good cop, bad cop.


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pla101prc

Senior Member
If you are aiming that comment at me, then I ask you to not shoot the messenger. If you're aiming it at Russia, then I believe Russia is being political or wishy washy to sort of appease both sides: "Yes, I agree with America that Iran needs to be more law abiding, but, I also agree with Iran that sanctions are too harsh. Let us hold more discussions more." It's sort of like good cop, bad cop.


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can i say that this is a major setback for hillary? maybe the Chinese spoke to Saudis beforehand to declare that they will not accept such deal. i am sure all the middle east sunnis are quite eager to see iran weakened, but whether they wanna see a destabilized and radicalized iran is quite a different issue.
 

SampanViking

The Capitalist
Staff member
Super Moderator
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can i say that this is a major setback for hillary? maybe the Chinese spoke to Saudis beforehand to declare that they will not accept such deal. i am sure all the middle east sunnis are quite eager to see iran weakened, but whether they wanna see a destabilized and radicalized iran is quite a different issue.

Yes I think you can, although I have seen some media spin of epic proportions attempting to retell the story during the day. I guess the State Dept are pulling every string at their disposal to ensure that the media remains on message.

The fact remains however that the Saudi's have expressed no interest in sanctions themselves and are highly unlikely therefore to try and sell them to anyone else. Especially true if that someone else is a major customer already, likely to become the no:1 customer in little more than a decades time and considering that the price of Saudi Crude would plummet if they stopped supply to them.
 

pla101prc

Senior Member
Yes I think you can, although I have seen some media spin of epic proportions attempting to retell the story during the day. I guess the State Dept are pulling every string at their disposal to ensure that the media remains on message.

The fact remains however that the Saudi's have expressed no interest in sanctions themselves and are highly unlikely therefore to try and sell them to anyone else. Especially true if that someone else is a major customer already, likely to become the no:1 customer in little more than a decades time and considering that the price of Saudi Crude would plummet if they stopped supply to them.

lol yeah i came across one HORRENDOUS attempt by bbc at spinning this story. apparently they think that saudi refused to intervene because they believe that China will comply with the US's proposals...and bbc actually went out of its way to tell us the readers that saudis are known for its vagueness...i just find it hard to believe that nobody bothered to mention a single word about the true reason why saudi isnt gonna cut oil export to China: MONEY
 

planeman

Senior Member
VIP Professional
interesting topic. Politics ain't my scene but just a thought from a pleb on the sidelines....

China should respect the sanctions, even help increase them. There's less advantage for China playing an influence game with US influence than trying to get popular among Iran's wealthy enemies. Iran's a pretty high-risk regime playing a game of dare with a super power. Iranian government are stupid as far as I can tell.
 

supercat

Major
I do not know any compelling reasons why China should join the sanction on Iran. But there are plenty of reasons why China should not:

1. It is futile. The opportunity of persuading Iran to abandon nuclear arms research was lost when the U.S. invaded Iraq. After the Iraq WMD fiasco, Iran would not believe in any offer from the U.S., such as America's guaranty that they will not invade Iran. And Iran did not believe U.S. that much to start with. Iran will get nuclear weapons anyway, unless Israel abandon her nuclear arms, and U.S. completely withdraw from Mideast.

2. It is much more secure for China to get her energy supply from Iran and Central Asia via pipelines, instead of from Persian Gulf countries, which are in the West's pocket anyway in the Chinese mind. In fact, China probably can satisfy all her energy requirements from Iran alone. And Iran can survive on Chinese cash for a long time.

3. Let Iran and other Mideast countries have nuclear weapons, because the first thing their will do is to kick out foreign military bases. No more protection fees, no more waste of money on missile defense - isn't it nice?
 

coolieno99

Junior Member
I don't think it's going to happened. China is buying about 1 million barrels of oil daily from Iran. Annual bilateral trade with Iran is about $ 25 billion.
 

jantxv

New Member
There hasn't been a lot of movement on this story until recently. Just an update as reported by the associated press since China plays such a large role in this issue.

AP
WASHINGTON -- Six major world powers have agreed to begin putting together proposed new sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program after China dropped its opposition, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

China, long a holdout against fresh international penalties against Iran, signaled its willingness Wednesday to consider a U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution, two U.S. government officials said.

That would appear to improve prospects for passing a resolution aimed at increasing economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran to scale back its nuclear ambitions, which Tehran insists are limited to developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

In another sign of movement on the Chinese front, Iran's state media reported Wednesday that the country's top nuclear negotiator will travel to Beijing to discuss possible U.N. sanctions.

Iranian state television said Saeed Jalili will hold talks Thursday with senior Chinese officials "concerning the nuclear program."

President Barack Obama had said Tuesday he hoped to have Iran sanctions in place within weeks, which had appeared highly ambitious given China's reluctance even to discuss specific sanctions.

On Wednesday, however, two U.S. officials said that in a phone call among officials from the five permanent members of the Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, plus Germany, the Chinese representative said his country was prepared to discuss specific potential sanctions.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because diplomatic talks are under way.

One of the officials said China had made a commitment to discuss the specifics of a Security Council resolution, and that on that basis the United States would press ahead with an effort to pass such a measure. The officials cautioned that this does not mean there is yet a full consensus on U.N. sanctions.

The Obama administration is hoping to get a U.N. resolution by the end of April. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has not publicly cited a specific timetable but in recent days has sounded more optimistic about the chances of getting China to agree that new penalties are needed to force Iran's hand.

"We see a growing awareness on the part of many countries, including China, as to the consequences of a nuclear-armed Iran to regional and global stability, to our oil supply, and we think that there will be a consensus reached as to the best way forward," Clinton told reporters Tuesday in Ottawa.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking to reporters after meeting with Obama at the White House on Tuesday, said Washington and Paris were inseparable in their thinking on the subject of Iran sanctions.

"Iran cannot continue its mad race" toward acquiring nuclear weapons, Sarkozy said. "The time has come to take decisions."
 
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