BEIJING, June 19 (UPI) -- The Chinese government expects peaceful nuclear negotiations will continue through multilateral dialogue with Iran, a government spokeswoman said.
Iranian delegates joined officials from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany in a second round of nuclear negotiations in Kazakhstan in April but made few breakthroughs.
February talks in Kazakhstan included efforts to get Iran to suspend some of its nuclear research in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions. U.N. inspectors this year said they suspected there were military dimensions to certain parts of Iran's nuclear program, an allegation Iran denies.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Beijing was eager to make advancements on nuclear negotiations with Iran, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.
She said dialogue with a new Iranian government was the only way to reach a peaceful and long-term solution to the nuclear issue.
Former Iranian nuclear negotiator Hassan Rouhani secured enough votes to win presidential elections last week. He said his government would show greater transparency on nuclear issues but would not suspend nuclear research.
The U.S. and British governments expressed cautious optimism about the nuclear posture taken by Rouhani, who takes office in August.
