Lobbying China on Iran, Israelis admit limited sway

BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israel has limited sway over China but hopes that sharing its fears about Iran's nuclear program will persuade Beijing to back tougher sanctions on Tehran, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Friday.

Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon are in China for what some analysts see as a last-ditch mission to craft U.N. Security Council consensus about cracking down on Iranian uranium enrichment.

Of the five Security Council veto-wielders, China is most resistant to employing sanctions to force Tehran, with whom it has energy, trade and diplomatic ties, to curb the project. Russia, another past naysayer, has been signaling flexibility

"You are living a symbiotic relationship with (China)... based on the amount of American bonds that they hold. They didn't buy a lot of bonds in (Israeli) shekels," Barak said in an address to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"Our mission there (Beijing) is just about information," he said. "We need to share with them our feeling about what's going on with the Iranian project. The Chinese are interested in facts, and we are interested in sharing with them."

Israel, which is assumed to have the region's only atomic arsenal, sees a mortal threat in the prospect of its arch-foe getting the bomb and has hinted at preemptive strikes should it deem diplomacy a dead end.

Iran denies it plans to build a nuclear bomb and says its nuclear program is intended to generate electricity.

Both Israel and the United States are hoping to woo Beijing with the argument that escalation of hostilities involving Iran would threaten China's supply of crude oil and natural gas, which it needs to keep its rapidly growing economy humming.

NO THREATS

The Chinese side has given scant indication of the content of the Israeli arguments being aired in Beijing, and has publicly stuck to its long-standing position that diplomacy and dialogue is the best approach to Iran.

Yaalon is a former chief of Israel's armed force who, before joining the cabinet last year, had repeatedly urged preparations to tackle Iran militarily.

Barak did not answer a question on whether the Israeli delegation in Beijing would discuss such an eventuality. An Israeli diplomat briefed on the visit saw it as unlikely.

"It's not something we would think of discussing so openly at this point," the diplomat said.

Barak, who met in Washington with senior Obama administration figures, repeated Israel's contention that an Iranian bomb would be inherently destabilizing to the Middle East, because it could trigger a regional arms race and embolden Islamist militant groups sponsored by Tehran.

China and Russia may ultimately reluctantly back watered-down sanctions, that would have symbolic diplomatic weight but little actual impact on Iran, diplomats say.

Iran was China's third-largest supplier of crude oil last

year, and China is a major investor in Iran's petroleum sector.

(Editing by Dominic Evans)