Published by: World Tibet Network News Friday, November 14, 1997
By Robert H. Reid
UNITED NATIONS, November 14, 1997 (AP) Refusing to let Iraq dictate who can inspect its weapons, the United Nations decided Thursday to withdraw all arms inspectors from Iraq after Saddam Hussein ordered Americans on the U.N. team out immediately.
But U.S. efforts to have the Security Council condemn the expulsion got bogged down for nearly eight hours over differences about the wisdom of withdrawing all the inspectors and a sudden, unrelated squabble between the United States and China over Tibet.
Diplomats from two council member states, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Chinese held up the proceeding because they were upset over Richardson's earlier remarks to a U.N. committee, where he said Tibetans suffer from "China's harsh repression.''
A Chinese diplomat denied differences over Tibet were behind China's resistance.
"Surely we are not pleased with what he said in his speech,'' Chinese spokesman Ranfeng Chen said. "We disagree and are not happy about that. But these are two different matters. There is no linkage.''