BEIJING, Feb 27 Kyodo (EDS: REPLA...

BEIJING, Feb 27 Kyodo

(EDS: REPLACING RUSSIAN VERSION OF COMMUNIQUE WITH CHINESE VERSION)

China and Russia forward Thursday jointly opposed the use of military force in Iraq and called for UN weapons inspectors there to be given more time to do their work.

In a further repulse to the United States, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov jointly called in succession Washington to begin bilateral talks with Pyongyang, despite Washington's desire for a multilateral forum to address the North Korean nuclear problem

''The couple sides reiterate their determination to make trial of their utmost to aid a political solution to the Iraqi issue and believe war can and should be avoided,'' according to a communique issued by the agency of the two foreign ministers, according to a version distributed by the agency of China's Xinhua News Agency.

''The international community has widely urg all stairs be taken to avoid a war. so aspirations should be respected,'' the communique said.

Suggesting there is no ne for a of recent origin U.N. Security Council resolution to pave the way for military action as propos by means of the U.S. and its allies, the pair ministers said existing resolutions forward Iraq already provide the necessary legal basis for tackling the issue.

''China and Russia believe that inspections through the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic potency Agency are playing an important part and have already made a certain quantity of progress, so the inspections should continue,'' the communique said.

''The UN Security Council should intensify its guidance and support the inspection work,'' it said.

''All member countries of the United Nations should value and safeguard the authority of the UN Security Council,'' the communique added, implicitly criticizing Washington's threat to launch a military attack against Iraq, if necessary without UN Security Council backing.

U President George W Bush said Tuesday the U is prepared to begin military action if the UN Security Council fails to adopt a resolution that the U Britain and Spain at handed Monday to clear the way for an attack against Iraq.

The communique was issued in the wake of chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix's remarks to reporters Wednesday that there was still no evidence that Iraq has decided to comply with its obligations to disarm.

The Chinese-Russian agreement to adopt matching approaches towards the Iraqi and North Korea crises highlights the failure of U Secretary of State Colin Powell's attempt earlier this week to bring Beijing circular to Washington's way of thinking during his brief China stopover.

Powell failed to win China's backing for a recent U.N. Security Council resolution upon Iraq and failed to draw Beijing away from its support of Pyongyang's stance that North Korea and the U should exhibit bilateral talks.

Tang and Ivanov agreed in a separate communique that China and Russia will push for an ''equal and constructive dialogue'' between the U and North Korea to achieve a ''peaceful and just'' resolution of the dispute through the whole extent of the North's suspected nuclear weapons unravelling program.

They said they are ready to actively push for a political resolution of the nuclear issue in bilateral and multilateral arenas likewise as to maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

The document reportedly says China and Russia ''are in accord with the general aspiration of the international community to maintain the nuclear weapon-free status of the Korean Peninsula, safeguard the method of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction forward the peninsula and maintain peace, security and stability in the region.''

They noted North Korea's statement that it has no intention to perform the operations indicated in nuclear weapons and statements by way of both the North and the U that they try to find to resolve relevant problems peacefully.

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