Tang, who came to New York Thursday for the UN Security Council meeting on Iraq issue scheduled for Friday, made the remarks during talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Tang said he saw no reason to shut the door to peace at this moment. The Chinese government is not in favor of a new resolution, particularly one authorizing the use of force against Iraq, he added.

Tang said the international community is now extremely concerned over the Iraq issue.

Therefore, the settlement of the issue should not only serve the target of destruction of weapons of mass destruction, but also the cause of safeguarding world peace and development and upholding the authority of the UN Security Council, said the Chinese minister.

To resort to the use of force is not a good option for solving any problem, he said, adding that a war would only produce a catastrophic humanitarian disaster and economic turmoil.

He cautioned that a possible war against Iraq would also cause many other new issues. "The challenges facing the world are too many enough and efforts should be made to avert the emergence of new man-made issues."

Tang stressed that the UN Security Council Resolution 1441 approved last November is a result of unity and cooperation by all member countries. And the weapons inspection process based on the resolution should in no way be left unfinished.

For his part, Powell reiterated US position on the Iraq issue, saying that the United States understood China's point of view on the matter.

On the same day, Tang also met separately with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Guinean Foreign Minister Lonseny Fall, a delegation of Arab foreign ministers from Bahrain, Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa.

(From People?s Daily, March 9, 2003)