The Times: Chinese Whispers
The Times has an editorial about China’s “inaction” in helping curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions:
China’s role in the six-power group and the UNSC is crucial. Its economic strength matters in the application of sanctions. Its diplomatic importance, as a permanent member of the UNSC and with the power of veto, will determine whether Iran feels constrained in its nuclear ambitions. China, as a rapidly industrialising power and a massive consumer of energy, is a huge market for Iranian exports. It is, in return, supplying Iran with Silkworm missiles. The relationship replicates China’s import of oil from Sudan and export of weapons for the atrocities committed by that regime in Darfur. The difference is merely that in Darfur the genocide has already happened, whereas President Ahmadinejad looks forward to the annihilation of Israel.
