Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan Sunday reiterated that further weapons inspections are "necessary and pressing,'' following the quarterly report presented by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to the United Nations Security Council on Friday.

Kong said that China supports the two agencies -- the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission -- to continue with weapons inspections.

He also urged Iraq to provide more active and substantial cooperation and treat the issues the UN agencies raised seriously.

Iraq Sunday destroyed six banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles and sat down for talks on germ weapons in compliance with UN disarmament demands. On Saturday, it destroyed the first four of such missiles. Blix ruled earlier this month the missiles exceeded the 150-kilometer range allowed under UN disarmament terms and must be scrapped.

But White House spokeswoman Mercy Viana said on Saturday: "The (US) president has always predicted that Iraq would destroy its al-Samoud missiles as part of their game of deception.''

UN weapons inspectors' spokesman Hiro Ueki also confirmed that inspectors who recently arrived in Baghdad were discussing the Iraqi proposal to quantify the amount of anthrax and VX that they claim to have unilaterally destroyed in July 1991, Ueki said Sunday.

(China Daily March 3, 2003)