China Ready to Cooperate With All JCPOA Parties to Preserve Deal - Foreign Ministry
Beijing is ready to cooperate with all signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to preserve the deal and ensure its implementation, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday, adding that the most important issue at the moment is to restore the balance between the rights and obligations of the parties
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th February, 2020) Beijing is ready to cooperate with all signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to preserve the deal and ensure its implementation, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday, adding that the most important issue at the moment is to restore the balance between the rights and obligations of the parties.
On Wednesday, a JCPOA Joint Commission meeting was held at the level of political directors in Vienna to discuss the agreement's implementation and further coordination of their actions.
"The parties to the agreement reaffirmed their commitment to preserving it and their readiness to take concrete measures for its full and effective implementation. China will continue to work together with other parties to preserve the deal, as well as to advance a political and diplomatic settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue," Zhao said.
According to the spokesman, China stressed that the JCPOA is an important result of multilateral diplomatic efforts that received international support.
"The US' withdrawal from the agreement and exerting maximum pressure are the main reasons for the current crisis. The countries [that still support the JCPOA] should implement the deal, use objective and fair approach to the solution of emerging problems," the diplomat added.
In addition, Zhao said that the main goal now is to "restore the balance between the rights and obligations of the parties."
The nuclear deal was signed in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. However, the US withdrew from the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran shortly thereafter. A year later, Tehran responded by steadily abandoning its JCPOA obligations every 60 days. In early January, Iran announced that it had dropped all of its commitments and therefore had no restrictions on its nuclear program.