Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan Sunday reiterated that further
weapons inspections are "necessary and pressing,'' following the
quarterly report presented by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix
to the United Nations Security Council on Friday.
Kong said that China supports the two agencies -- the International
Atomic Energy Agency and the UN Monitoring, Verification and
Inspection Commission -- to continue with weapons inspections.
He
also urged Iraq to provide more active and substantial cooperation
and treat the issues the UN agencies raised seriously.
Iraq Sunday destroyed six banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles and sat down
for talks on germ weapons in compliance with UN disarmament
demands. On Saturday, it destroyed the first four of such missiles.
Blix ruled earlier this month the missiles exceeded the
150-kilometer range allowed under UN disarmament terms and must be
scrapped.
But White House spokeswoman Mercy Viana said on Saturday: "The (US)
president has always predicted that Iraq would destroy its
al-Samoud missiles as part of their game of deception.''
UN
weapons inspectors' spokesman Hiro Ueki also confirmed that
inspectors who recently arrived in Baghdad were discussing the
Iraqi proposal to quantify the amount of anthrax and VX that they
claim to have unilaterally destroyed in July 1991, Ueki said
Sunday.
(China Daily March 3, 2003)