PITTSBURGH, the United States, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- China hopes the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to handle the issue of Iran's recently revealed secret nuclear plant in accordance with its responsibilities and authority, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said here on Friday.

    China hopes that Iran could enhance cooperation with the IAEA on the issue, spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said at a news briefing.

    Ma said the Chinese side has taken note that Iran has notified the IAEA of the nuclear facility and that leaders of the United States, Britain and France have made statements on the issue.

    China has always advocated that the international nuclear non-proliferation regime should be preserved, and that relevant issues on the prevention of the proliferation of nuclear arms should be settled peacefully through negotiations, to maintain regional peace and stability, he said.

    Meanwhile, China also stands for the right of all countries to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, under the circumstances that they comply with their non-proliferation obligations, he said.

    A diplomat in Austria confirmed on Friday that Iran was now constructing a new nuclear facility, and that the Vienna-based IAEA had been informed of the development.

    In Pittsburgh, the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, where G20 leaders were meeting for the third time in a year to discuss the world financial and economic situation, U.S. President Barack Obama said at a press conference that the United States, France and Britain had presented "detailed evidence" to the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, that "Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility."

    Iran's newly unveiled uranium enrichment facility "is inconsistent with a peaceful (nuclear) program," Obama said.