China says business ties with Iran no
harm to any other country
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[August 11, 2018]
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's business
and energy ties with Iran do not harm the interests of any other
country, the country's Foreign Ministry said, after U.S. President
Donald Trump said companies doing business with Iran would be barred
from the United States.
China has already defended its commercial relations with Iran as open
and transparent as U.S. sanctions on Iran took effect despite pleas from
Washington's allies.
In a statement released late on Friday, China's foreign ministry
reiterated its opposition to unilateral sanctions and "long-armed
jurisdiction".
"For a long time, China and Iran have had open, transparent and normal
commercial cooperation in the fields of business, trade and energy,
which is reasonable, fair and lawful," it said.
"This does not violate United Nations Security Council resolutions or
China's promised international obligations, nor does it harm the
interests of any other country, and should be respected and protected,"
the ministry added.
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Using sanctions at the slightest pretext or to threaten anyone won't
resolve the problem, it said.
"Only dialogue and negotiations are the true path to resolving the
issue," the ministry added.
China, Iran's top oil customer, buys roughly 650,000 barrels a day of
crude oil from Tehran, or 7 percent of China's total crude oil imports.
At current market rates, the imports are worth some $15 billion a year.
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![](../images/081118pics/news_o27.jpg)
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and China's Foreign
Minister Wang Yi shake hands at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines
of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Singapore, August 3,
2018. REUTERS/Feline Lim
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State energy firms CNPC and Sinopec have invested billions of
dollars in key Iranian oil fields such as Yadavaran and North
Azadegan and have been sending oil to China.
European countries, hoping to persuade Tehran to continue to respect
the nuclear deal, have promised to try to lessen the blow of
sanctions and to urge their firms not to pull out.
But that has proven difficult, and European companies have quit
Iran, arguing that they cannot risk their U.S. business.
Few American companies do much business in Iran so the impact of
sanctions mainly stems from Washington's ability to block European
and Asian firms from trading there.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard)
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