The strike against Iraq has opened a deep gulf between the US and China, with Beijing's ambassador to the UN expressing anger at what he called an unnecessary action. The Chinese Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Mr Shen Guofang, is reported to have told members of the Security Council that in the view of China, there was no crisis, only "some problems".
China is expected to join Russia today in demanding an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
Coming on the heels of criticism by the US in recent days of Beijing's clampdown on dissidents in China, the goodwill between the two countries in the wake of President Clinton's visit in June has considerably dissipated. With Russia and France, China has been sympathetic to Iraq throughout the inspections dispute. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Tang Guoqiangg said in recent days that UNSCOM's inspection work was being carried out smoothly since Iraq resumed its co-operation with the UN.
The Chinese government is likely to back Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov's call yesterday for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to consider the report by the chief UN arms inspector in Iraq, Mr Richard Butler, on the grounds that any use of force against Iraq would only worsen the situation in the Gulf and would not win compliance with UN resolutions on arms inspections.
"The problem at this very moment is not Iraq's unwillingness to co-operate with UNSCOM, the UN Special Commission in charge of dismantling Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but is only some differences between Iraq and UNSCOM on the document issue," Mr Shen noted recently.