(Adds China's statement, paras 4-5, 12) BEIJING, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Friday his country and China had a "basically similar" stance on Tehran's nuclear programme. China and Iran also had a consensus on arms control, nuclear non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear power, Jalili told a news conference in Beijing after meeting Chinese officials. "On the Iranian nuclear issue, China and Iran have a similar stance," he said, declining to elaborate on his talks, other than to say Iran considered China a friend. China, for its part, said it hoped to play a "constructive role" in reiterating its desire for a peaceful solution to Iranian nuclear talks, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "The international community should beef up diplomatic efforts to facilitate the resumption of negotiations and achieve a comprehensive settlement of the issue," State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, a senior Chinese diplomat, was quoted as saying. Foreign ministers from major powers, including China, are set to meet in Berlin next week to discuss a possible third U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran. As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China has the power to veto any resolutions. A U.S. intelligence estimate late last year concluded Iran stopped nuclear warhead development efforts in 2003. But Washington and other Western powers say Iran's uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities remain dangerous and defy earlier U.N. resolutions. "The U.S. intelligence report proved that many countries made a mistake on Iran's nuclear issue," Jalili said, adding Iran was still open to and welcomed talks. With a growing dependence on Iranian oil and a general distaste for economic sanctions, China has been reluctant to embrace tougher U.N. measures. China has urged Iran to abide by U.N. demands to answer questions about its nuclear activities, but has been reluctant to back a U.S. drive for further sanctions against Iran, Beijing's third-largest supplier of imported crude oil. China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met Jalili on Thursday night and called for a quick resumption of the Iranian nuclear talks, Xinhua also reported. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Simon Rabinovitch; Editing by Jerry Norton)
A swimmer walks on the partially dried-up riverbed of the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei province January 18, 2008. China's longest river, the Yangtze, is suffering from a severe drought this ...
