July 6, 2018

Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chen Xiaodong, on Friday, says Beijing is in constant contact with Arab countries on the Iran nuclear issue.

Chen added that China sought to further play active role to ensure regional peace and stability.

He held a news conference dedicated to the upcoming 8th ministerial meeting of the Chinese-Arab Cooperation Forum.

“China is in constant contact with Arab countries on such issues as maintenance of regional peace and stability, the Iranian issue often becomes a subject of our discussion too,’’ the official said.

Chen pointed out that China had always called on relevant parties to make more efforts to ensure regional peace and stability.

“Beijing is going to continue playing a constructive role in this process,’’ he added.

Chen stressed that improvement of Chinese-Arab relations was beneficial both for them and the whole world.

The situation around Iran escalated in May when U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S.’s withdrawal from the international nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The agreement was signed in 2015 in Vienna by Iran, the P5+1 group of countriesm comprising the U.S., Russia, China, France and the UK plus Germany, and the European Union.

In addition, Trump decided to reinstate sanctions on Iran, previously lifted under the JCPOA in exchange for Tehran maintaining a peaceful nuclear programme.

The unilateral move taken by the U.S. has been opposed by other signatories of the nuclear agreement.