Warm backing for weapons report
( 2002-12-10 00:13 ) (1 )

Both China and Russia have welcomed Iraq's bulk weapons of mass destruction submission to the United Nations (UN).

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Monday China has always held that the Iraq issue should be solved within the framework of the UN through political means.

On Saturday night, Iraq handed its arms declaration to UN weapons experts, ahead of the December 8 deadline as set in UN Resolution 1441.

Iraqi officials arrived at the local UN headquarters in three vehicles, carrying the nearly 20,000 pages of documents and two annexes in four card boxes and two plastic bags.

"China hopes Iraq's submission will help the smooth progress of UN weapons inspections in Iraq,'' Liu said, adding China also hopes Iraq and UN inspectors will keep their co-operation momentum.

China will make a serious and in-depth study of the report, Liu said.

Liu indicated the report should be assessed in a just and objective way through UN inspectors on-the-spot.

Liu said the UN Security Council should draw its conclusion after discussions on the results of the on-the-spot inspections.

In another development on Sunday, Russia said Iraq's submission reflected a positive attitude.

The statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry said Iraq's timely submission, parallel to its continuous co-operation with the international weapons inspectors, confirms its commitment to act in compliance with the resolution.

The resolution, which was passed by the security council on November 8, requires Iraq to submit, not later than 30 days, an accurate, full and complete declaration of its programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction and other arms delivery systems.