¡¡¡¡BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan spoke by telephone with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on the Iraq issue on Sunday.

¡¡¡¡Straw notified Tang of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Russia visit, Blair's discussions of the Iraq issue with Russian leaders, Britain's views on the matter and relevant consultations with the United Nations Security Council.

¡¡¡¡Tang stressed the Iraq issue should be solved politically within the framework of the United Nations, and Iraq should unreservedly and fully implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

¡¡¡¡He said the most urgent thing now is to let the UN nuclear inspectors return to Iraq and begin their work, and that resuming the UN inspection of weapons in Iraq is an important and indispensable step towards the solution of the issue.

¡¡¡¡Tang positively evaluated the cooperative spirit China and Britain and other UN Security Council members show during consultations and when seeking agreement on the issue.

¡¡¡¡Straw thanked Tang for the talks, saying Britain and China haveactively consulted with each other on bilateral and international issues and have reached broad consensus.

¡¡¡¡He said he hoped to maintain close cooperation with China on the Iraq issue. Enditem