By NNN-KUNA
Vienna, Austria : China has notified the Group-77 that it desired not to sign a statement due to be addressed at Thursday’s meeting of the IAEA board of governors to react to Israel’s charges that the chief of the agency was being biased in favor of Iran.
Diplomats told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the Chinese ambassador at the UN agencies here notified the Sudanese ambassador, currently the head of the group, that Beijing would not join in the issuance of the statement for it contained strongly-worded criticism against Israel.
The Chinese side requested that the rhetoric of harsh criticism against Israel be omitted so that Beijing would sign it.
The statement praises professional integrity of Mohammad Al-Baradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in reaction to Israel’s charges that he was being biased in favor of Iran over its nuclear program.
In the remarks to KUNA, the diplomats said the Chinese opted to refrain from approving the statement to spare themselves a possible dispute with the Americans.
Al-Baradei has repeatedly rejected imposition of new sanctions on Iran and asked for further time for the international agency to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue with diplomatic means.
Israeli officials have recently lashed out at Al-Baradei after he questioned reports whether the Iranians were seeking to develop nuclear arms.
The Group of 77 is consisted of Afro-Asian countries and includes some Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The group of 77, a major constituency within the United Nations system, was established on June 15, 1964 at the conclusion of the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.