COPENHAGEN, Sept 24: Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji warned on Tuesday that any military action against Iraq without a UN mandate would lead to “severe consequences”.

“We request that Iraq comply with UN resolutions without any preconditions and accept the UN weapons inspections,” he said, when asked how concerned he was about the threat of unilateral US military action against Iraq.

“We also ask that Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected. Without authority or mandate from the United Nations or without firm evidence any actions will lead to severe consequences,” he told reporters.

Zhu, who has previously insisted that the United States needs a UN mandate to attack Iraq, gave no further details at a press conference at the end of an Asia-Europe summit in Copenhagen.

He said only that other leaders at the ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting) summit shared his views.

“We elaborated on our position in a very frank way at the ASEM summit,” he said. “I found that the Chinese position on this issue is basically similar and identical to that of other leaders at the meeting.”

Last week Zhu, on a tour of European countries, said that the United States must have a mandate from the United Nations if it is to carry out threats of a military attack on Iraq.—AFP