Western powers united on the need for fresh sanctions

BEIJING - China is facing mounting pressure to go along with Western powers on the Iran nuclear issue, with the US and Europe joining hands on the need for fresh sanctions against the country.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama said he wants a fourth round of international sanctions against Iran to be in place "within weeks".

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also echoed Obama during a news conference in the White House, saying, "the time has come to take decisions".

"(With Germany and the UK) we will make all necessary efforts to make sure that Europe as a whole engages in the sanctions regime," Sarkozy said.

The same day, the world's leading industrialized nations too called for stronger action against Iran.

Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight nations issued a communique in Gatineau, Canada, saying they had agreed to take "appropriate and strong steps" to show their resolve over Iran's clandestine nuclear program.

Russia, which had supported China's stance that sanctions against Iran should be done only as a last resort, also seems to have shifted its position.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday said in a statement to members of the League of Arab States that the possibility of using new sanctions "cannot be excluded".

One day before the statement, Russia and the US, the world's premier nuclear superpowers struck a landmark agreement on cutting their nuclear arsenals by a third.

"China is faced with mounting pressure from other international players now," said Zhang Xiaodong, deputy chief of the Chinese Association for Middle East Studies.

Beijing has repeatedly called for negotiations and flexibility and said sanctions cannot solve the root problem. In the latest statement Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said China would "make joint efforts with other parties to peacefully resolve this issue by diplomatic means".

Nevertheless, an unnamed French official said Western players are ready to consider unilateral sanctions if a strong enough UN resolution cannot be passed. Last week, before the G8 summit, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon also indicated that additional sanctions outside the UN framework might take place.

Also on Tuesday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, expressed frustration with Iran's nuclear intentions.

The country insists it is for energy development but Western nations believe it has an ambition to produce nuclear weapons. Amano told DPA news agency that he hasn't got the response he had hoped for so far.

But the diplomat also warned new sanctions would mean nuclear inspectors having a more difficult job in the short term, saying Iran "doesn't want to act under pressure".

Zhang told China Daily that imposing unilateral sanctions would only create more conflicts and worsen the current problem.

Meanwhile, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, who has been invited by Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, is scheduled to meet high-ranking officials in Beijing on Thursday, with discussions on the nuclear program top of the agenda, Iran's Press TV reported on Wednesday.