Iran s nuclear ambitions and the looming humanitarian crisis in Sudan will be among topics discussed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Prime Minister Tony Blair when they meet in Britain on Wednesday.

Wen, arriving fresh from an EU-Asia summit in Helsinki, will also talk about trade and investment opportunities with Blair, officials said. Britain is Chinas biggest European Union investor and its third-biggest trade partner within the bloc. The Chinese Premier first visited Britain in 2004 and Blair paid a return visit last year. Both countries have set up working groups to discuss areas of co-operation which include energy, education, finance and sustainable development.

Chinese officials said Wen and Blair will also sign an agreement on climate change during the visit. The two leaders are due to hold a joint news conference at mid-day on Wednesday. With the international community tense over Irans refusal to heed a UN Security Council deadline to stop uranium enrichment and debate about possible sanctions, the dialogue between Wen and Blair on this subject will be key.

"China s participation is essential if we are to tackle the big international challenges that we face," said a senior Foreign Office official, speaking at a briefing last week. Washington said last week it and five other world powers would start considering steps towards sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council this week. But weekend talks, in which diplomats said Tehran offered to consider temporarily halting uranium enrichment, and US hints of openness to such a compromise, have revived hopes of averting such a move.

China has made it clear that it dislikes the idea of sanctions. "Up until now we have managed to sustain a considerable degree of harmony and consultation on the Iran issue...its worth bearing in mind that the Chinese have a huge interest in stability in the Middle East," the official added, noting Chinas oil imports from Saudi Arabia. "It s certainly not in China s interests for Iran to develop nuclear weapons which both they and we believe would be deeply destabilising," he said. Wen and Blair are also expected to discuss a United Nations proposal to send a UN peacekeeping force to Sudan s Darfur region, where an African Union force has been unable to end the humanitarian crisis in the lawless west of the country. British officials are keen for China to bring its influences to bear in the region, where its booming trade links now give it considerable clout.
(Por Sophie Walker, Planet Ark, 14/09/2006)