He made the remarks at the United Nation Security Council meeting on Iraq where US Secretary of State Colin Powell made a presentation to the council on evidence of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Tang said council members have attached great importance to the authority and role of the council, citing the nearly full attendance by foreign ministers of the council members at the meeting.

"This is of crucial importance to the solution of the Iraq issue and represents the desire of the international community," he added.

The minister said China welcomes the US move to provide information and evidence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to the United Nations.

He said China believes such a move is consistent with the spirit of resolution 1441 and could help increase transparency. He hoped other parties will hand over their information and evidence to the United Nations Monitoring and Verification and Inspection Committee (UNMVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"This will help them go on with inspections in a more effective manner and evaluate the information and evidence through on-the-spot inspections," he said, adding that the two agencies should also report their findings to the council in a timely manner.

He praised the two UN agencies for their hard and worthwhile work over the past two months, and said their view that inspections should continue before they can come to any conclusions should be respected.

He reiterated China's stand that inspections should continue and expressed the hope that the trip to Iraq by the two chief UN inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei would yield positive results.

He also urged Iraq to adopt a more proactive approach, further explain and clarify the outstanding questions as soon as possible and better cooperate with the UN inspectors who pinpointed some questions in the inspection process.

Tang stressed that it is up to the council members to decide what would be the next step through consultation on the basis of the inspection outcome. He said the most important thing at present remains the full implementation of the resolution 1441, which represents the common stand of the council members on the elimination of weapons of mass destruction.

Tang asked the council to attach great importance to the common desire of the international community for a political settlement of the issue and expressed China's willingness to join others in working to that end.

Security Council Meets for Powell's Briefing on Iraq

The United Nations Security Council opened a public meeting Wednesday morning to hear a presentation by US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Iraq's alleged concealment of banned weapons.

The meeting was presided over by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the council.

Also attending the presentation were foreign ministers from 10 other council member states, including Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov. Syria and Guinea were being represented by their ambassadors and Angola by its Vice Foreign Minister Robelo Chikoti.

Other participants included UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Hans Blix, chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The presentation, announced by US President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address last week, is aimed at building international support for prompt military action against Iraq.

German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger told reporters Tuesday that the presentation is expected to last about 90 minutes and then council members were invited to comment.

Media reports said Powell would provide three major categories of intelligence: on Iraq's mobile biological weapons labs; on its purchase of materials for making chemical, biological and nuclear arms; and on its ties to terrorist groups.

In their first progress report to the Security Council last month, both Blix and ElBaradei said Iraq had given them access to weapons sites and they had found no banned materials.

Powell Accuses Iraq of Further Material Breach of Obligation to Disarm

United States Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday accused Iraq of further material breach of its obligation to disarm through a presentation accompanied with tape recordings, satellite photos and statements from informants.

Powell told the UN Security Council that the tape recordings, satellite photos and statements from informants constituted irrefutable and undeniable evidence that Saddam Hussein is concealing weapons of mass destruction.

He said the United States cannot and should not run the risk for the American people that someday Saddam Hussein would use such weapons.

"Iraq has now placed itself in danger of serious consequences," Powell said, adding that Baghdad's denials constitute a "web of lies."

He also said the Security Council adopted Resolution 1441 to preserve peace by providing a final chance to Iraq. However, Iraq had not taken the chance.

Three months after Iraq pledged that it would disarm, Powell presented his evidence in an appearance that was televised live around the world. The Security Council members, joined by Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, sat around a large circular table with Powell and listened.

'Solid Sources' Shows Iraq not Willing to Disarm: Powell

Armed with satellite images and intercepted telephone conversations, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that Iraq still has not complied with resolutions calling for it to disarm.

Powell presented the US case to the 15-member council during a high-level open meeting which drew 12 foreign ministers to the UN headquarters in New York.

"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources," he said. "These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."

"I cannot tell you everything that we know. But what I can share with you, when combined with what all of us have learned over the years, is deeply troubling," he said.

Powell Accuses Iraq of Links to Terrorist Network

United States Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday accused Iraq of links to the al Qaeda terrorist network, saying members of the network were operating freely in Iraq for more than eight months and were using Baghdad to coordinate their activities.

At an open meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Iraq, Powell said the al Qaeda network was headed up by Abu Musab Zarqawi, a high-ranking Osama bin Laden lieutenant who fled to Iraq after driven out of Afghanistan.

He said Zarqawi has been linked to the assassination of US diplomat Laurence Foley in Jordan last October and the alleged ricin plot that was broken up in London last month. Zarqawi is connected with the Ansar al-Islam, a Taliban-style group that operates in Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq, according Powell.

Powell also accused Iraq of supporting what he called terrorist groups in the Palestinian Territory by training and providing weapons to them.

The alleged link between Iraq and al Qaeda was part of the highly anticipated presentation laying out what Powell said was evidence that Iraq was developing biological and chemical weapons, and was attempting to obtain nuclear weapons.

CIA Director George Tenet sat behind Powell at the horseshoe-shaped Security Council table. At the other end of the table, Mohammed Aldouri, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, listened to Powell's presentation and waited for his chance to respond.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2003)