France turned up the diplomatic heat on the United States today to make changes to its draft UN resolution on Iraq, as anti-war protesters planned rallies in Washington and other cities around the world.
Protest organisers expressed hope that 100,000 people would turn out in the US capital to express opposition to their government's threat to take military action against Iraq if it does not cooperate fully with United Nations weapons inspectors.
French Foreign Minister Mr Dominique de Villepin said France was willing to use the draft resolution put forward by the United States yesterday as a basis for seeking an agreement among the 15 members of the Security Council.
Mr De Villepin's comments added to efforts in New York by French and Russian diplomats to press Washington to make changes in its text, which is co-sponsored by Britain.
Amid the diplomatic manoeuvring, US President George W. Bush sought Chinese President Jiang Zemin's backing for the new UN resolution demanding Iraqi disarmament.
MrJiang met Mr Bush yesterdayat his ranch in Crawford, Texas. A senior Bush administration official said after the meeting the two leaders had discussed "fairly thoroughly" the US quest to force Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to give up his alleged stockpiles of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.
China is widely expected to abstain in the Security Council but the United States wants as much support as possible.
Mr Bush said the UN resolution "must be one which does the job of holding Saddam Hussein to account": "Let me put it bluntly," he said. "There must be consequences."