Weapons inspections in Iraq by the United Nations are effective and should continue, China's Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said Friday in phone conversations with Canadian Foreign Minister William Graham and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi.
Tang discussed the Iraq issue and the nuclear issue in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with his counterparts.
Tang said Iraq must cooperate more actively and fully with the two inspection organizations.
War would ruin peace and stability in the Gulf region and the world at large, and lead to serious humanitarian crises and negative impacts on the global economy, Tang said.
An all-out effort should be made to avoid war, and strive for a political solution to the issue within the framework of the United Nations, he said.
On the nuclear issue in the DPRK, Tang said China has always stood for safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, a nuclear-free peninsula and a peaceful solution of the issue through dialogue.
China keeps an open mind towards any suggestions conducive to stability on the peninsula and a peaceful solution of the nuclear issue in the DPRK, he said. Currently, it is most important for the United States and the DPRK to start talks as soon as possible, he added.
(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2003)
