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By Lucy Hornby and Andreas Rinke
February 2, 2012 2:42 AM EST
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday urged China to use its influence to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear programme, at the start of a three-day visit when she will also seek China's support for the ailing euro.
Merkel is expected to make the case for tighter sanctions on Iran, originally proposed by the U.S. and designed to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. She said she has already had "long discussions" with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao over Iran sanctions.
"If we talk about the European sanctions against Iran, the question is how China can make better use of its influence to make Iran understand that the world must not have another power with nuclear weapons," Merkel told an audience at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
She added that she hopes the U.N. Security Council can pass a unanimous resolution on the matter.
The United States imposed the harshest sanctions so far on Iran when President Barack Obama on December 31 signed into law new sanctions on transactions involving Iran's central bank.
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The European Union last week imposed a ban on the import, purchase or transport of Iranian oil.
China has long refused to support sanctions on Iran, although Wen Jiabao said last month that Beijing "adamantly opposes" Iran developing nuclear weapons.
The Islamic republic, China's third-largest source of foreign oil, says its nuclear programme is for civilian use.
Merkel could urge Beijing to further cut its crude imports from Iran, a German source said earlier, but that is likely to go unheeded.
Li Xiangang, an expert on China-Middle East relations at the China Institute of International Studies, said China would only act after the International Atomic Energy Agency sends inspectors to Iran.
"China opposes the use of nuclear energy for proliferation but believes it is possible to use it for peaceful purposes," said Li, who served as an official in the Chinese embassy in Iran in the 1990s.
"Energy sanctions against Iran will only cause world oil prices to rise and hurt the global economic recovery. That is why I think China is not supportive of further sanctions on Iran."
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Merkel also pressed China to improve protection of intellectual property rights, calling on Beijing to ensure that German businesses had reciprocal access to its markets.
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