China welcomes Iraq's submission of weapons declaration to UN
( 2002-12-09 15:58 ) (7 )

China welcomes Iraq's on-schedule submission of a declaration of weapons of mass destruction to the United Nations in accordance with the requirements of Resolution 1441 of the UN Security Council, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said here Monday.

In response to a request for comment, spokesman Liu Jianchao said China has always held that the international community should resolve the Iraq issue within the framework of the United Nations through political means.

China hopes the Iraq's dossier will help the smooth progress of UN weapons inspections in Iraq, Liu said. China also hopes that the Iraqi side and UN inspectors would keep their current cooperation momentum.

China will make a serious and in-depth study of the report, Liu said.

China holds that Iraq's report should be assessed in a just and objective way through UN inspectors' on-the-spot inspections, and the UN Security Council should draw its conclusion after discussions on the reported results of the on-the-spot inspections, he added.