Tzipi Livni
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Livni to call on China to back sanctions on Iran
Foreign minister leaves for Beijing as part of Israel's efforts to push for harsher international sanction on Tehran. 'Any hesitation on international community's part would be seen as weakness,' she tells Ynet
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni left on an official visit to China Sunday, in an attempt to convince the Chinese government to support the broadening of the international community's sanctions on Iran.
"This is the time to impose dramatic sanction on Iran. Any hesitation on the international community's part would be interpreted as a sign of weakness, by Iran and by its neighbors," Livni told Ynet.
Iran:
Iranian foreign minister says Tehran ready for collaboration 'with peaceful purpose'
Livni is scheduled to meet with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. During her two days in Beijing she will try to push for broader financial and commercial sanction in Iran, on China's part.
Her meetings, like Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's meetings with British, French and Russian officials last week, are meant to rally the international support needed by the UN Security Council, when the time to decide on harsher sanctions against Iran comes.
International resolve is the only way Iran will be made to change its nuclear policies. Israel, she said, shouldn't lead the fights, but should defiantly take an active part in it.
A regional threat
"Iran is a regional threat, dividing the entire area between extreme and moderate forces… Iran is stalling for time – the time it needs to adapt nuclear technology to military use."Iran was initially a member of the NPT treaty (the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons), and allegedly assumed an international responsibility to use nuclear energy for civilian purposes only," added Linvi, "but I don't think there is anyone in the world that believes Iran's nuclear efforts are made in the name of peace.
"We are dealing with a country that denies the Holocaust, that openly calls for the eradication of another nation… this kind of country cannot be a part of the international community... leniency in Iran's case might trigger a domino effect with its neighbors," she said.
Iran, she added, "is plagued by the very dangerous combination of a radical regime and the desire to break every international treaty in the quest for nuclear technology… anyone seeking a diplomatic solution to the situation must understand that we need to take massive, rapid action on any level available – that is the only thing that might spark a real change."
