US hopes to work with China on Iran sanctions issues: Pompeo

aWASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday his country hopes to work with China on sanctions imposed on Iran, telling a press conference that during an earlier meeting with his Chinese counterparts he expressed a desire to cooperate with China in addressing Iran’s nuclear missile programmes and other activities. “We hope to work with the Chinese government and Chinese energy companies in this regard,” Pompeo said. “Bringing Iran’s oil export revenues to zero is a critical component of this campaign and we discussed this today,” he said.

The United States and China resumed top-level talks Friday after months of spiraling tension, looking to see if they can find a way forward on disputes from trade to military friction.

During a round of high-level talks in Washington, the two sides aired in sometimes blunt terms many of their main differences, including a bitter trade dispute, freedom of navigation in Asia-Pacific waters, self-ruled Taiwan, and China’s crackdown in Xinjiang.

Two visiting senior Chinese officials also seized the opportunity to warn publicly that a trade war between the world’s two largest economies would end up hurting both sides and to call for keeping channels of communication open to resolve an issue that has unsettled global financial markets.

Despite the airing of grievances, the talks appeared aimed at controlling the damage to relations that has worsened in recent months and at paving the way for an encounter between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina at the end of November.

“The United States is not pursuing a Cold War or containment policy with respect to China,” Pompeo said at the conference.

Even as the United States and China confront difficult challenges, “cooperation remains essential on many issues,” he said, citing efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.

The meeting paired Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis with Chinese Politburo member Yang Jiechi and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe. The annual US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue was originally set for Beijing last month but had been called off amid rising tensions.