DESPITE STRAINS over China’s currency, US arms sales to Taiwan, internet freedom and the Dalai Lama, there are signs of a thawing of relations between the United States and China after the two presidents spoke on the telephone.
This new détente has apparently translated into the two countries agreeing to raise the pressure on Iran and impose further sanctions over its nuclear programme.
The West believes Iran is violating international nuclear rules and has told Tehran to curtail uranium enrichment, which could eventually be used to make fissile material for nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear activities are peaceful and legitimate.
UN Security Council member China is unlikely to publicly back sanctions, as it maintains an international stance of not interfering in domestic affairs of nation states. China is a major buyer of oil from Iran and tends to use its veto whenever sanctions are sought, whether against Iran or China’s ally North Korea.
In its report on the phone conversation, the official Xinhua news agency focused on Hu Jintao’s comments about how healthy, stable Sino-US trade ties served the interests of both sides. Mr Hu said he hoped their trade disputes could be settled through “dialogue and consultation”.
The report did not mention Iran specifically but did say that Mr Hu attached “great importance to the issue of nuclear security, opposing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism, and supporting international efforts to enhance co-operation on nuclear security”.
Mr Hu will attend the nuclear security summit from April 12th to 13th in Washington.
“China is ready to work closely with other parties concerned to make the upcoming nuclear security summit a success,” the report quoted Mr Hu as saying.
Tensions have been high between Washington and Beijing for many months. Beijing suspects the hand of the state department in a decision by Google to pull out of the Chinese market over censorship and hacking attacks.
It was angered by Washington’s decision earlier this year to go ahead with a €4.6 billion US weapons package for Taiwan, the self-ruled island it considers a breakaway province, and apoplectic at Barack Obama’s decision to meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing sees as a dangerous separatist.
Tibet and Taiwan, as well as restive Xinjiang in the far west, are viewed by China as inalienable parts of its territory and any moves to deny that are not tolerated.
For its part, Washington believes that China keeps its currency artificially undervalued, unfairly helping exporters. China has unofficially pegged the yuan to the dollar since mid-2008, meaning its currency has weakened against other trade partners as the value of the dollar has fallen.
Saeed Jalili, Tehran’s top nuclear envoy, has called for negotiations without threat of sanctions, following meetings in Beijing in the wake of US reports saying China had dropped opposition to possible new UN measures against Iran.