UNITED NATIONS – China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Wang Guangya, said yesterday that an Iranian failure to cooperate on nuclear issues will lead to “undesirable results.” Punitive measures currently being considered against Tehran would be “counterproductive,” he said, but the public warning was rare in China’s diplomacy on Iran.

On another issue, Mr. Wang said talks on the selection of the next secretary general will only begin in earnest this summer, and he predicted that the decision will not be made before October. American ambassador John Bolton has called for an early pick for Kofi Annan’s successor, to allow an adequate transition period.

Mr. Wang said that his government has had diplomatic consultations with Tehran. Last week the Security Council urged the mullahs to freeze all uranium enrichment activities and called on the secretary general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El-Baradei, to report to the council on Iran’s cooperation by the end of April.

Beijing diplomats “warned” the Tehran regime that they should cooperate, Mr. Wang told reporters yesterday during a briefing upon his assumption of the council’s rotating presidency for the month of April. The Iranians “have to consider that noncooperation will lead to undesirable results.” However, Mr. Wang refused to expand on his statement, saying only that the Iranians “are smart people” who understand the consequences.

But China steadfastly opposes sanctions, he stressed, adding that talk of punitive measures is unhelpful. China will resist new security council actions, “particularly a Chapter Seven resolution,” Mr. Wang said, referring to the enforceable passage in the U.N. Charter that allows for punitive measures. Any talk of sanctions, he said, is “more counterproductive than productive.”

Along with Russia, China has been Iran’s most reliable defender among the five veto-yielding council members during the long consultations that led to last week’s council statement. By asking Mr. ElBaradei to report back to the 15-member council by the end of April, the council in effect said it would continue to deal with Iran. But Mr. Wang yesterday reiterated his country’s argument that the Iranian issue should be handled by the IAEA in Vienna, and away from the council.

Mr. Wang also said he opposed any sanctions on Sudan, another ally of Beijing. Although the council in the past called for targeted sanctions against individuals, including Khartoum officials, involved in the atrocities in Darfur, Mr. Wang said yesterday that sanctions are “not the right element” in handling the crisis. He also said Khartoum’s refusal to allow entry to a U.N. official, Humanitarian Coordinator Jan Egeland, was but a “technical issue.”

On the selection of the next secretary general, Mr. Wang said the field of candidates is far from complete. “No candidate came to New York yet,” he told reporters. “They have to present themselves” at Turtle Bay before the selection process begins in earnest. Contrary to Mr. Bolton’s suggestion that the secretary general should be picked by summer, Mr. Wang said serious consultations would only begin in June or July. They would not be completed before October, only two months before Mr. Annan completes his term of office.

The next secretary general, he insisted, should be an Asian. 35 years after U Thant, it is “high time” Asia had another secretary general, he said. But Mr. Wang did not rule out a candidate from the Middle East, which at the U.N. is considered part of Asia.