Chinese PM Stresses Strong Ties with Iran Despite Western Pressures
News number: 9010172085 19:07 | 2012-01-22
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9010172085

TEHRAN (FNA)- Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao defended his country's
extensive oil trade with Iran against the West's sanctions pressure.

Wen made the remarks at the end of a six-day visit to the Middle East,
against a backdrop of tensions over possible US sanctions on nations that do
energy trade with Iran.

Iran has threatened to punish the latest Western sanctions by choking off
oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global oil
exports.

Speaking at a news conference in Doha, Wen also took aim at both potential
threats to China's oil imports: the US sanctions pressure and the Hormuz
tensions.

"I also want to clearly point out that China's oil trade with Iran is normal
trade activity," he said in response to a question about US and European
efforts to curtail Iranian oil exports and revenues.

"Legitimate trade should be protected, otherwise the world economic order
would fall into turmoil," he added.

But Wen shrugged off worry about China's oil needs.

"I don't have this or that worry about China's oil supplies, and this time I
didn't discuss this issue with the leaders of each country," he told the
news conference.

Wen visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The Chinese leader's comments dismissed the West's media propaganda alleging
that he went on a tour of the Persian Gulf's oil rich Arab nations to
discuss the possibility for replacing Iranian oil supplies.

The US-led tensions against Iran are a particular worry for China, the
biggest buyer of Iranian oil, followed by India and Japan. Only Saudi Arabia
and Angola sell more crude than Iran to China.

The Obama administration last week invoked US law to sanction China's
state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which it said was Iran's largest supplier of
refined petroleum products.

The United States is also working out how to enforce a law enacted on
December 31 that targets foreign financial institutions doing business with
Iran's central bank, notably to buy crude.

In the first 11 months of 2011, Chinese crude imports from Iran were at
about 553,000 barrels per day, a gain of nearly 30 percent on the same
period a year before, according to Chinese customs data.

"There's no doubt that China and Iran maintain normal trade relations, but
we certainly won't abandon principles for the sake of doing deals," said
Wen.