China, Iran discuss nuclear issue

Chinese President Hu Jintao urged flexibility and a peaceful resolution of Iran's nuclear ambitions in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart on Saturday, days after Tehran announced it has increased its number of operating centrifuges.

In talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, Hu said China respects Iran's right to peaceful energy and is pushing for the problem to be solved through negotiations.

"At present, the Iran nuclear issue is faced with a rare opportunity for the resumption of talks, and we hope all parties concerned could seize the opportunity and show flexibility, to push for a peaceful settlement of the issue," Hu was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

State television showed the two men warmly shaking hands and smiling for the cameras at the Great Hall of the People, where Hu had earlier welcomed world leaders to the Paralympics.

The meeting came a little over a week after Iran's Aug. 29 announcement that it had increased the number of operating centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant to 4,000.

The number was up from the 3,000 centrifuges that Iran announced in November that it was operating at its plant in the central city of Natanz, but still well below the 6,000 it said last year it would operate by summer 2008.

The United Nations has already imposed three rounds of sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to freeze its enrichment program, which can be used to produce either fuel for nuclear reactors or the material needed for nuclear warheads.

The United States and its allies are likely to press the U.N. later this year for a new round of sanctions but could face strong resistance from Russia after last month's crisis in Georgia deeply damaged ties between Washington and Moscow.

China, another U.N. Security Council member with veto power, has in the past sided with Russia in opposing truly onerous sanctions against Iran.

On Saturday, Hu stressed the two sides had a "deep friendship," while Ahmadinejad spoke of "good cooperation in various fields like exchange of people and communication."