China shows interest in Iran gas pipeline

China will explore the possibility of joining the $7-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.

However, Beijing is not yet ready to make a commitment on the issue despite invitations by both Pakistan and Iran to join the project. "China is in urgent need of more energy. Of course we will be interested. But it depends on a lot of things. As far as I know, this is just a proposal. So whether it becomes a reality we do not know or even if it is feasible or it is workable, we do not know," He Yafei, assistant minister of foreign affairs, told. The statement comes within days of Indian foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir holding talks on the issue in Islamabad. The issue was also discussed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Pakistani leaders in Islamabad. Ahmadinejad expressed confidence that the project will go ahead despite strong opposition to it from the US. One of the challenges in widening the scope of the project to include China is the huge difference in the land levels on the Pakistan-China border as the Chinese side is at high level. "Pakistan is very much in favour of the pipeline between the Gulf and China through Pakistan," he said while speaking at the elite Tsinghua University.

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