China Demands Biden Return U.S. to Iran Nuclear Deal
By Vijeta Uniyal | Legal Insurrection | December 23, 2020 at 8:00am
Chinese Foreign Minister: “The US shall return to the Iran nuclear deal as soon as possible and without any preconditions.”
Communist China on Monday demanded the United States to return to the Iran nuclear deal and end all sanctions placed on Tehran under President Donald Trump’s watch once Joe Biden moves into the White House.
“The US shall return to the Iran nuclear deal as soon as possible and without any preconditions, and the US should also scrap all sanctions imposed on Iran, other third-party entities and individuals,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a video conference with other four signatories of the 2015 nuclear accord.
The Chinese foreign minister’s undiplomatic and stern tone underlines China’s belief in a ‘reset‘ in bilateral relations with a Biden-run administration. According to Chinese media reports, Beijing opened backchannel talks with figures close to the Biden team last month and wants a rollback on the tough policy course pursued by President Donald Trump.
The Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post reported the Chinese foreign minister’s remarks:
China called on the United States on Monday to return to the Iran nuclear deal without conditions and to lift all US sanctions against Iran and related entities.
“The US shall return to the Iran nuclear deal as soon as possible and without any preconditions, and the US should also scrap all sanctions imposed on Iran, other third-party entities and individuals,” said Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during a video conference hosted by the European Union and attended by foreign ministers from Russia, Iran, Britain, France and Germany – the other signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that US President Donald Trump exited in 2018.
China is not alone, expecting the U.S. to reenter the Obama-Kerry deal once the Democrats take the White House. Foreign ministers from Germany, Iran, China, Russia, and the United Kingdom ‘welcomed’ the prospect of Biden bringing Washington back into the fold of the deal disavowed by President Trump in May 2018.
“A joint statement released by [German Foreign Minister Heiko] Maas and the foreign ministers of Iran, China, Russia and the UK acknowledged their desire to see the treaty upheld and greeted the prospects of a US return to it under incoming President-elect Joe Biden as ‘positive,’” Germany’s state-run DW News reported Monday.
“With Joe Biden on board, all parties to the nuclear deal want to bring it back to life,” the German broadcaster noted in a separate article last week.
The European Union has also joined the diplomatic push to get the U.S. to back the nuclear deal without any preconditions. European powers, mainly Germany, France, and the UK, had lined up huge investments in the oil-rich country before the Trump administration snapped back sanctions on the regime two years ago.
British newspaper The Guardian reported the European push to revive the Iran deal:
EU foreign ministers have agreed not to set fresh preconditions on a revival of the Iran nuclear deal, believing Tehran and Washington should be able to come back into full compliance with the agreement without at this stage needing to accept to extend or strengthen it.
The step removes one of the potential roadblocks to Iran coming back into compliance with the existing deal, so long as the US lifts its sanctions and complies with UN resolutions. (…)
The opposition to setting fresh preconditions came as foreign ministers that are signatories to the deal – France, Germany, the UK, Iran, China and Russia – convened for the first time in a year and welcomed a possible US return to the deal it unilaterally left in 2018. (…)
One senior EU diplomat said: “Everyone around the table agreed on the need to preserve the deal and to convince the US that it is much better to go back to the deal the way it is and without preconditions and without saying yes we want to add something more. If we want Iran to go back to full compliance then we have to bring the economic rewards that we promised. Today the trade between the European states and Iran is lower than it was before the deal.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration shows no signs of letting down on its tough policies towards Communist China or Shia-Islamist Iran.
The U.S. has increasingly tightened economic sanctions against Iran, the world’s biggest state-sponsor of terrorism. Last month, a joint CIA-Mossad operation eliminated Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, hiding near Tehran.
Last week, the White House added leading Chinese companies to the growing list of entities blacklisted for their ties to the Chinese military.
On Monday, the U.S. State Department hit Chinese regime officials with fresh visa restrictions on the grounds of Human rights abuse. Millions of Chinese are languishing in the Communist regime’s forced labor camps.
“China’s authoritarian rulers impose draconian restrictions on the Chinese people’s freedoms of expression, religion or belief, association, and the right to peaceful assembly. The United States has been clear that perpetrators of human rights abuses like these are not welcome in our country,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Monday.
VIDEO: Pompeo urges world leaders to hold China, Iran accountable
