WASHINGTON, May 11: China ‘will not be an obstacle’ to efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions if the United States can convince Russia to get tough on Tehran, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday.

The State Department’s number two diplomat, who is in charge of a new US strategic dialogue with China, told a congressional hearing that China, like the United States, wanted to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power but feared losing access to Iran’s oil. China has also invested heavily in Iran’s oil industry.

“They’ve been given a little bit of cushion because of Russia,” Mr Zoellick told the US House of Representatives Committee on International Relations.

“If we can bring Russia along with some of this, my own sense is that China will not be an obstacle in the process,” he said, referring to China’s tendency to avoid being isolated on big global issues.

The challenge for the United States was to convince Beijing that Chinese concerns about acquiring fuel for its rapidly growing economy were not served by an Iran which destabilises its region with nuclear proliferation, support for terrorism and threats to Israel, Mr Zoellick said.

“They want to be seen as sharing strategic interests with the United States,” Mr Zoellick said. “What we have to translate that into is common interests with complementary policies.”

US lawmakers used the hearing to criticise China’s oil-driven courtship of Sudan and its close ties to Zimbabwe, Myanmar and North Korea.

Mr Zoellick said he has urged Beijing to understand that support for such governments ‘can backfire on them’.

“They’re better off trying to support some of the main objectives that we, the European Union or others are trying to promote,” he said.—Reuters