US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to press her hardline case over Iran's nuclear ambitions with Russia yesterday after saying the US had no plans for an imminent attack on the Islamic republic.
On her first trip abroad as the top US diplomat, the Soviet specialist will meet her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Turkey as the Bush administration pressures Moscow to keep on hold a fuel-supply deal for an Iranian reactor.
"We, of course, have worked ... with the Russians. And their efforts to cooperate with the Iranians on civilian nuclear power have been much more attuned recently to [our] concerns about the proliferation risk," Rice said on Friday in Britain on the first leg of a 10-stop trip to Europe and the Middle East.
"While it does not eliminate the proliferation risk, it certainly does help to mitigate [it]," she added.
Washington fears any Russian fuel supply to a reactor Iran is building in its southern port of Bushehr would move Tehran closer to acquiring a bomb under the cover of a civilian program.
Oil-rich Iran denies it is developing such a weapon and says its nuclear programs are for peaceful power generation needed to meet the energy demands of its growing population.
Rice, who has sought to allay fears of a possible military strike, says Russia's decision against delivering the fuel is part of the international community's diplomatic strategy against Tehran.
Asked in London if the US was considering military action to end Iran's programs, Rice said, "The question is simply not on the agenda at this point in time -- we have diplomatic means to do this."
Her response was unlikely to reduce global tensions over a nation US President George W. Bush said was part of an "axis of evil" with pre-war Iraq and North Korea.
Europe -- with US acquiescence -- has offered economic incentives to Iran in a proposed deal to ensure Iran does not pursue the atomic bomb.
And if those talks fail -- as similar ones did last year -- the US wants Iran reported to the UN Security Council for possible international sanctions that would have to be approved by Russia.
Some hardline US officials see the Russian supply deal as crucial to avoiding an escalation of the crisis.
They warn that Israel might strike its longtime foe should any deliveries be made, noting the country hit Iraqi facilities when former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein reached a similar stage in nuclear development decades ago.
Rice's week-long trip also seeks to repair ties with nations like Russia that were frayed because of the US-led invasion of Iraq last year.
She was to fly from Germany, which opposed the war, to Poland yesterday to thank Warsaw for sending its troops to Iraq.
Rice was also to discuss with Lavrov yesterday the Kremlin's pace of democratic reform amid complaints by Washington.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement this week that the talks would prepare for a summit meeting between Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin to be held on Feb. 24 in the Slovak capital of Bratislava.
Rice warned Moscow on Tuesday that it would have to accelerate its democratic reforms if it hoped to truly deepen its relationship with the US. She said Washington had to balance cooperation with Moscow on several fronts with what she called the Kremlin's "uneven" moves toward democracy.
US-Russian ties have soured amid complaints over several anti-democratic actions by Putin, including his move against the oil giant Yukos, a crackdown on the press and alleged interference in the Ukraine election.
Rice said the Bush administration had not begun any systematic review of its relations with Russia but added, "we're constantly looking at the policies and trying to determine where we go from here."
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS