Deputy Foreign Minister Fedotov paid a working visit to Beijing on Thursday and Friday to discuss the Iraq war with the Chinese side. At a press conference held in the Russian embassy Friday afternoon, he said he had met with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and held consultations with Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Guangya.

Fedotov said Russia and China, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, shared the same view of the present Iraq situation and have pledged their readiness to work together within the UN framework to return to the path of seeking a political solution. He said the two countries had, in fact, maintained close consultations and cooperation in the process of resolving the crisis.

"And in the course of these consultations, we have decided to further increase such beneficial cooperation. In addition, we have also conferred on several concrete steps to safeguard the core role of the United Nations during and after the war."

He said both sides maintained that UN participation should be in compliance with the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council on disarmament, sanctions and humanitarian plans, as well as with new resolutions that may be passed in the future.

The deputy foreign minister said the Iraq war will pose a threat to security and stability in the region and in the world at large in term of its consequences.

"The Iraq war is a very big mistake and is generating many negative consequences, and the stability in the whole Middle East region is in danger," he noted. The war elicits grave ecological problems and will probably trigger an escalation in international terrorism.

Besides, he noted, "without the authorization of the UN Security Council, the military action violates international law and put the present world order to test."

"At present, the war is being turned into a humanitarian catastrophe, producing civilian casualties and tragedies every day," Fedotov said, stressing that Russia and China are both deeply concerned about the humanitarian consequences of the war, and their governments appealed for the parties concerned to strictly adhere to the norms of international humanitarian law.

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2003)