[A-List] China: anti-war stance

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Blow for Blair as China joins anti-war lobby
Nato split grows as Chirac is told 'warfare is good for no-one'

MICHAEL SETTLE
The Herald, 12 February 2003

CHINA last night added its weight to the international anti-war bandwagon
and deepened Tony Blair's diplomatic difficulties over Iraq.

As talks to resolve the Nato crisis broke up without success, the third
veto-holding member of the UN Security Council joined two others, Russia and
France, in a call to strengthen the weapons inspections and avoid a war
against Baghdad.

In Beijing, the government news agency said Jiang Zemin, China's leader,
told Jacques Chirac in a telephone call: "The inspection in Iraq is
effective and should be continued and strengthened. Warfare is good for no
one and it is our responsibility to take various measures to avoid it."

Franco-German proposals to avert conflict by tripling the number of weapons
inspectors were given short shrift by Jack Straw yesterday. He dismissed
them as "a recipe for ... delay".

The foreign secretary pointed out the proposals, which included introducing
thousands of "blue helmeted" UN troops into Iraq, would only work if they
had the complete co-operation of Saddam. Given the tyrant's record, he said
the plans were "simply not feasible".

Mr Straw also condemned the block by France, Germany and Belgium on the
despatch of Nato missile batteries to defend Turkey in the event of war with
its neighbour. He said the action risked "undermining" the alliance.

In Brussels, a second day of formal talks between Nato ambassadors broke up
after only 20 minutes. George Robertson, the alliance's secretary-general,
admitted: "The longer this dispute goes on, the worse it is going to be."

Talks will continue today.

At Westminster, the government was forced to defend its Iraq strategy after
the Tories tabled an emergency question on the Nato crisis.

During heated exchanges, Bernard Jenkin, the shadow defence secretary,
called on ministers to show "unity and resolve" in the face of Nato
divisions, and accused them of undermining public opinion by producing their
"dodgy dossier" on Iraq.

Calling for international unity around UN resolution 1441, Mr Jenkin accused
the French of pursuing a "long-held ambition to destroy Nato", adding:
"Unless Europe and the US can unite, then what hope is there that other
nations or our own people will follow our lead."

Defending the dossier as being based on material from several sources, Adam
Ingram, the defence minister, sought to reassure MPs over Nato by saying:
"We are standing alongside the majority within Nato, trying to find a
resolution to a difficult question."

However, many in the chamber were unhappy at the tawdry spectacle of
international mud-slinging, while others doubted Mr Blair had yet convinced
the public of the wisdom of his Iraq policy.

Gerald Kaufman, the veteran Labour back-bencher, attacked the "bull in the
china shop antics" of Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary.

John Gummer, the former Tory minister, claimed that the government was "not
convincing large numbers of people" over Iraq and said there was a crisis of
confidence at Westminster.

Last night, the Conservative back-bencher joined Labour MPs in tabling an
anti-war Commons motion, insisting that British troops should not take part
in military conflict until there "is clear evidence Iraq poses an imminent
threat to peace".

Tomorrow, as MPs take a mid-term break, the foreign secretary will seek to
assuage fears in a Commons statement ahead of the crunch report to the UN by
Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector.

Given the current difficulties, Mr Straw is likely to face a deal of
parliamentary flak.

Iraq, meanwhile, has granted visas to some 65 "human shields" travelling
from London to Baghdad to protest against a possible US-led war, the group
said yesterday.