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Chinese FM heads to Iran

KUWAIT: China's Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan on Sunday flew to Iran where he is expected to encourage the Islamic republic to continue with the "moderate" policies of President Mohammad Khatami after parliamentary elections hotly contested between conservatives and reformers.

The minister, accompanied by a foreign ministry delegation, headed to Iran after a three-day official visit to neighbouring Gulf Arab Kuwait.

His spokesman, Sun Yuxi, told a news conference in Kuwait on Saturday night that Khatami's government had so far followed a "fairly moderate policy" and was making active efforts to improve relations with other countries.

"We welcome this kind of policy and hope it will continue after the elections," added the spokesman who described Iran as a big state in West Asia with a "responsibility for maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and the Gulf region."

Iranian reformers who support Khatami built a big lead in early returns from parliamentary elections on Friday, threatening to eclipse long conservative control of the assembly.

The Chinese spokesman said that Beijing had in the past encouraged non-Arab Iran to have good neighbourly ties with Arab states across the Gulf waterway which are built on non-interference and mutual respect.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has often had tense ties with many Arab states with intense suspicion and trading of accusations. But under Khatami since mid-1997 ties have gradually improved with most Gulf Arab states.

The Chinese spokesman also expressed deep concern over Israeli raids against civilian targets in Lebanon and called on the Jewish state to withdraw unconditionally from south Lebanon in line with United Nations resolution 425.-Reuters