Wall Street Journal report.

China's biggest oil company is pressing ahead with oil-and-gas projects in Iran valued at billions of dollars, its top executive said, highlighting Beijing's strong economic ties to Tehran even as China has signed onto a U.S.-led sanctions effort against Iran.

UPI report.

China inaugurated a missile plant in Iran last month, even as the United States and its allies were pressing Beijing to support a new round of tough economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, Jane's Defense Weekly reports.

Reuters report.

State-run Chinaoil has sold two gasoline cargoes for April delivery to Iran, industry sources said on Wednesday, stepping into a void left by fuel suppliers halting shipments under threat of U.S. sanctions.

The Leveretts (Race for Iran) comment.

In the midst of its Nuclear Security Summit and in the wake of President Obama's bilateral meeting with China's President Hu yesterday, the Obama Administration is vigorously spinning the U.S. and Western media that it has won Chinese support for new sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear activities. To say the least, this is an exaggeration on the Obama Administration's part, and wholly unreflective reporting on the part of those journalists who repeated the exaggeration without question or context.

Independent report.

China is being privately reassured that its supplies of oil would be guaranteed in the event that it supports tough new UN sanctions on Iran, its third largest supplier of crude.

[...]

Iran supplies an estimated 11 per cent of China's energy needs. Among oil suppliers to the Chinese it is only surpassed by Saudi Arabia followed by Angola. Were Iran to lash out and turn off the tap, the consequences for resources-starved China could be severe. Diplomatic signals over what China intends to do about the sanctions issue remain muddled.

Mark Hosenball on his Newsweek blog.

While U.S. and European officials are pleased that China has become "engaged" in United Nations Security Council discussions over new economic sanctions on Iran, their expectations are modest at best as to what those negotiations will actually produce.

The most the Security Council talks are likely to produce is "something quite limited," said a European diplomat, who asked for anonymity when discussing a sensitive issue. Any new sanctions regime likely to meet the approval of China--a major Iranian trading partner which has long resisted the imposition of new sanctions on the ayatollah's regime--would likely be "more a political gesture" and less a series of measures likely to put a real bite on the Iranian theocracy, the diplomat said.

Guardian report.

Barack Obama has urged Beijing to "ratchet up the pressure" on Iran over its nuclear programme after a breakthrough for the US administration in persuading China to agree to talks on fresh sanctions against Tehran.

Obama told CBS news that Iran was increasingly diplomatically isolated and that international unity was essential to ensuring it did not develop nuclear weapons.

AFP report.

China has emerged as Iran's top economic partner, investing heavily in the energy sector and filling the gaps left by Western firms forced out by international sanctions.

In 2009, China became Iran's premier trade partner, with bilateral trade worth 21.2 billion dollars against 14.4 billion dollars three years earlier.

The Leveretts comment.

Sometimes headlines really do convey powerful messages. That was certainly the case with an AFP story, which appeared late last week under the headline, "Saudis deny discussing pressure on China over Iran with US".

From The Media Line.

Iran and China have signed an agreement to allow China to set-up an oilrig in the Gulf despite increasing international calls to enforce tougher sanctions against Iran.

In a deal worth $143 million between the Iranian North Drilling Company and China Petroleum Technology Development Corporation, the latter will be allowed to drill for oil in the Gulf, according to the official Iranian news agency Press TV.

Reuters report.

Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.

[...]

China has the world's biggest pile of foreign currency reserves, much of it held in U.S. treasury debt. China held $798.9 billion in U.S. Treasuries at end-October.

But any attempt to use that stake against Washington would probably maul the value of China's own dollar-denominated assets.

Telegraph report.

Evidence is mounting that Chinese sales of US Treasury bonds over recent months are intended as a warning shot to Washington over escalating political disputes rather than being part of a routine portfolio shift as thought at first.

A front-page story in the state's China Information News said the record $34bn sale of US bonds in December was a "commendable" move. The article was republished by the National Bureau of Statistics, giving it a stronger imprimatur.

From Foreign Policy.

For every dollar of U.S. investment, China spends 51 cents in Iran.

Reuters report.

Acknowledging China's reluctance, Jim Jones, Obama's national security adviser, told the "Fox News Sunday" program: "We need to work on China a little more. On this issue they cannot be nonsupportive."

Laura Rozen in Politico.

After arriving in Doha today and meeting with the Turkish foreign minister and Qatari leaders, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Saudi Arabia where she will meet with Saudi King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

What's on Clinton's Saudi agenda? Prodding Saudi leaders to offer the Chinese energy supply guarantees in exchange for Beijing's nod for Iran sanctions, AFP's Lachlan Carmichael posits.

The Leveretts comment.

Amidst the bravado surrounding President Ahmadinejad's announcement that Iran will start enriching uranium to 20 per cent purity, the Financial Times reported yesterday that China has passed the European Union as Iran's largest trading partner.

...

The finding is indicative of a broader trend: China's growing willingness to work with the Islamic Republic, despite objections from the United States and Europe.