US officials to press China on Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON — Top US officials announced Thursday they were heading to China in late August to press Beijing to "step up" and fully implement sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program."China is of concern to us in this regard," Robert Einhorn, the US State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.Einhorn said he and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Daniel Glaser would visit China at the "end of August" as part of a push to "raise this at the highest levels."Glaser later said he and Einhorn were headed "to Japan and South Korea next week, and China later in the month" as part of a push to get US partners in Asia, the Middle East, and South America to tighten sanctions on Iran.And a top US Treasury official in charge of sanctions, Stuart Levey, will head to the United Arab Emirates in the next few weeks, said Glaser.Einhorn said he would press Chinese officials not to "backfill" -- step up trade or investment in Iran to replace firms from "responsible countries" that leave the Iranian market in the face of broad international sanctions."It's important that China step up and recognize" that it has "responsibilities" as a permanent UN Security Council member to implement the council's sanctions on Tehran, said Einhorn."The Chinese will argue that they have important security needs" related to getting energy for their booming economy, the diplomat said. "In our view they are overachieving in terms of their energy security needs.""We think they have to rebalance their priorities," said Einhorn, who underlined that China "is going to be the focus of very high level attention over the next weeks and months" on the issue of Iran.A top international affairs and trade official at the US Government Accountability Office, the US Congress's investigative arm, said China was "aggressive" in investing in Iran's energy sector despite the sanctions.The official, Joseph Chri

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