Asia-Pacific

China urges stepped-up diplomatic efforts on Iran nuclear issue

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Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei has hailed the recent expert-level talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers, urging more diplomatic efforts to achieve progress in the Iranian nuclear issue.

“The meeting has increased mutual understanding among parties concerned and [this] is helpful,” Hong said at a daily news briefing on Wednesday.

Iran and the P5+1 group — China, Russia, France, Britain and the US plus Germany — held their latest round of expert-level talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on March 17-18.

Iran and the P5+1 agreed to hold the expert-level meeting during their previous negotiations in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on February 26-27. The two sides agreed to convene again in Istanbul on April 5-6 to continue the negotiations.

The Chinese spokesperson called on all concerned parties to step up diplomatic efforts, seek common ground and iron out differences to push forward the talks in a bid to make progress on the Iranian nuclear issue in the near future.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said during their meeting in Istanbul, the Iranian and P5+1 experts discussed various aspects of the proposals put forward by both sides.

According to the statement, the discussions revolved around proposals presented by Iran during the meeting in Moscow in June 2012, and offers given by the P5+1 during negotiations held in the Kazakh city of Almaty on February 26-27.

Michael Mann, a spokesman for European Union (EU) foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, also said in a statement on Tuesday that the meeting provided an opportunity for experts of both Iran and the P5+1 group to explore each other’s positions on a number of technical subjects.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the United States and EU using this pretext to impose several rounds of illegal unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

Tehran refutes the allegation, maintaining that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

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