China is ready to join the international community in making unremitting efforts to resolve the Iraqi issue in a fair way as soon as possible, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in Beijing Saturday.

The United Nations (UN) Security Council on December 17 adopted Resolution 1284 on the Iraqi issue, with 11 voting for, and four abstentions, Zhang said.

Since December last year, the Iraqi issue has been in a deadlock and, in order to break the deadlock, China has done a great deal of work in and outside the Security Council, has always taken an active part in the Security Council's consultations on the issue and put forward many constructive propositions, she said.

Because Resolution 1284 does not satisfy the reasonable proposals by China and several other countries in terms of setting in motion the mechanism for suspending sanctions against Iraq and other major issues, China, together with such Security Council members as Russia, France and Malaysia, abstained from voting,

Zhang said that China has adopted a consistent and clear-cut stance on the Iraqi issue, and holds that Iraq should cooperate with the United Nations, and implement relevant Security Council resolutions in an all-round and earnest way.

At the same time, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, which is a sovereign state, should be respected by the international community, she said.

Zhang said that the international community should be fair and objective in assessing Iraq's implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions, and accordingly gradually ease and eventually lift the sanctions against Iraq. (Xinhua)