Wen to visit Persian Gulf as US-Iran tensions rise

Conference in Dubai, speech about China’s energy policy on agenda.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar from 14 January to 19 January, China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Wen will attend a conference in Abu Dhabi and make a speech about China’s energy policy, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in a statement on the ministry’s website. Wen will hold talks with leaders of the three nations during his six-day visit and “promote the development of China-Arab relations and relations with the Islamic world,” Liu said.

The announcement comes as US treasury secretary Timothy F Geithner arrives in Beijing on Tuesday to press Chinese leaders to pressure Iran’s nuclear programme by cutting oil imports. China is Iran’s biggest oil customer, accounting for 22 per cent of its crude exports during the first half of the last year, according to the US government statistics.

“China will try to find out what the three countries are thinking about Iran,” Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Dubai-based Institute for near east and Gulf Military Analysis, said in a phone interview from Dubai. “China will want to make sure that it will receive needed energy supplies if there is a conflict.”

The US tightened economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme on 31 December, and the European Union is weighing a ban later this month on purchases of Iranian crude. Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said on 27 December that his nation would block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz if sanctions are imposed.

Chinese vice foreign minister Cui Tiankai said yesterday that energy cooperation with Iran should not be linked to its nuclear programme.

“The regular economic and trade relations and energy cooperation between China and Iran has nothing to do with the nuclear issue,” Cui told reporters in Beijing. “We should not mix issues with different natures.”