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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ukraine agreed to give up its bomb-grade uranium on Monday at the start of a 47-nation nuclear security summit that President Barack Obama hoped to use to entice China to support tougher sanctions on Iran.
Obama began the unprecedented two-day gathering with a series of one-on-one sessions with some of the world leaders gathered for the summit, which is aimed at preventing terrorists from gaining access to nuclear materials.
His talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao were expected to go some way toward determining whether China is prepared to join the United States, Britain, France, Russia and Germany in a new round of U.N. sanctions on Iran. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful and it does not intend to build a weapon.
The summit, one of the largest international groups ever staged in the United States, had its first tangible outcome with Ukraine's announcement that it would give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium by 2012, most of it this year.
Kiev has enough nuclear material for several weapons. It will convert its civil nuclear program to operate on low-enriched uranium. Washington agreed to provide technical and financial support for the effort.
"This is something that the United States has tried to make happen for more than 10 years," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Hu's agreement to attend was perceived as a positive sign in Washington after U.S.-Chinese relations were strained by Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama, China's Internet censorship, and U.S. pressure over China's currency.
Diplomats believe China might be willing to join the latest Iran sanctions push but it was still unclear how far Beijing would go to penalize a country with which it has significant economic ties.
China has made clear that it dislikes a proposed ban on new investments in Iran's energy sector as part of a new round of U.N. sanctions, diplomats said on Sunday. Russia is also skeptical about energy sanctions on Iran.
Financial markets will be seeking further signs of China giving ground over its currency valuation. The United States agreed to delay its planned mid-April determination of whether China was considered a currency manipulator, sparing Hu from potential embarrassment.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Larry Summers attended Obama's talks with Hu. Geithner made a brief visit to Beijing last week to discuss U.S. concerns that the yuan is seriously undervalued and that this contributes to a trade imbalance.
IRAN DISMISSES SUMMIT
Iran dismissed the U.S. summit and said it would not be swayed by any decisions made there. "World summits being organized these days are intended to humiliate human beings," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Tehran.
Obama began his one-on-one meetings by seeing Jordan's King Abdullah, who like many Arab leaders is worried about the potential for Iran developing a nuclear weapon and triggering a Middle East arms race.
The two leaders agreed on the need for advancing Middle East peace efforts through indirect talks that would quickly transition to face-to-face negotiations.
The White House said Obama and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak agreed the international community should "send a clear signal" to Iran that while it has the right to develop nuclear energy it must not make nuclear weapons.
The summit in Washington's downtown convention center, which was surrounded by a heavy security cordon of troops and police and high fences, is the culmination of a hectic period of nuclear diplomacy for Obama.
Last week he signed a new treaty to cut U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals and unilaterally announced the United States would limit its use of nuclear weapons, a plan that came under heavy fire from his conservative critics.
The summit -- the biggest U.S.-hosted assembly of world leaders in six decades -- will be a test of Obama's ability to rally global action on his nuclear agenda.
In a sign of progress on the issues, the Russian foreign ministry said Moscow and Washington would sign a deal on Tuesday on reducing stocks of weapons grade plutonium.
On the eve of the conference, Obama told reporters: "We know that organizations like al Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon, a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using."
A draft final communique shows leaders will pledge to work toward safeguarding all "vulnerable nuclear material" within four years and take steps to crack down on nuclear smuggling.
NOT ON AGENDA BUT ON SUMMITEERS' MINDS
Iran and North Korea are not on the guest list or the summit agenda. But their nuclear standoffs with the West were likely to weigh heavily in Obama's talks with Hu and other leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She will sit down with the U.S. president on Tuesday after the summit is over.
"I think time is pressing and a decision on potential sanctions will need to be made soon," Merkel, referring to Iran, said in Berlin before leaving for the United States.
The list of leaders in attendance ranged from heads of state of traditional nuclear powers like Russia and France to nuclear-armed foes like India and neighboring Pakistan.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani assured Obama in talks on Sunday his government has "appropriate safeguard" for its nuclear arsenal. |
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发表于 2010-4-12 04:18 PM
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