China pulls out of Iran strategy session

WASHINGTON - China is protesting U.S. honors for the Dalai Lama this week by pulling out of a planned international strategy session on Iran sought by the United States, a State Department official said Monday

China objected to participating in the meeting on the same day that the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader is to receive Congress' civilian honor at a ceremony attended by President Bush, the official said.

China is one of six nations that have offered Iran a deal to shutter disputed nuclear activities, and Wednesday's meeting in Berlin was part of the U.S.-led drive to punish Iran for spurning the offer.

China is considered the main holdup to U.S. plans to impose new United Nations sanctions on Iran this fall. China and Russia, which have economic ties to Iran, have gone along so far with an international effort to coerce Iran away from an alleged weapons program but negotiations on the next round of sanctions is expected to be difficult.

The six-nation diplomatic meeting is still expected to take place, perhaps a week later, said the U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe another country's motives.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but China has previously protested the U.S. honors for a leader that China considers a separatist........