Bad Guys Meet, Hot Air Rises

The guys on the left have nukes and want oil. The guys on the right have oil and want nukes. This can't be good.

The Iranian delegation to Beijing for a one day meeting Thursday were led by Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator. The Chinese delegation was led by Tang Jiazuan, China's State Councilor.

Publicly, all we're getting from China are platitudes:

Tang expressed the wish that all parties concerned should step up diplomatic effort to create favorable conditions for the resumption of talks before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) holds a special session of its board of governors in February. ...

China hopes that Iran's nuclear issue could be resolved peacefully through diplomatic channels, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan on Thursday.

China hoped that all parties concerned take "actual actions" to ease the current tense situation, Kong said.

The pivotal point was to break the deadlock in negotiations over Iranian nuclear issue, which required concerted efforts of all relevant parties, Kong said.

Obviously, the Chinese are signalling that they don't want their relations with the petrol-pumping mad mullahs to get messed up over this little matter of Iran's drive to obliterate Israel.

The "current tense situation" is the push for sanctions first, and saber-rattling second. The Chinese are not saying they'll veto sanctions, but diplomats will certainly read this as a signal that Beijing wants to avoid being put in that situation -- hence the reference to resolving the matter before the next IAEA meeting, when Britain, France and Germany are set to push for referring the Iraninuke issue to the UN.

It's not likely to happen, which is why I'd really like to know what was going on in this meeting. Why was Iran in Beijing? What deal are they trying to cut? What equipment are they trying to buy? Are the Chinese going for it?