Iraqi PM hopes upcoming visit to China will boost bilateral ties

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday expressed his hope that his visit to China next Tuesday will enhance bilateral cooperation in the fields of oil, infrastructure and military. "Iraqi-Sino relations date back to many years ago, and the bilateral relations have developed since 2003," Abadi told Xinhua in an exclusive interview here. Abadi said that his country is working on deepening relations with China, saying "we are seeking to promote such relations in all aspects, in particular in investment and rebuilding infrastructure." Abadi said his two-day visit to China will concentrate on three fields, "firstly, the oil sector which is vital to Iraq and we are looking forward to increasing our oil production and exports, and I believe that China can contribute in such filed." "Secondly, investment in infrastructure as Iraqis are looking forward for such investment as to be further sources of funding other than oil. And I believe China has great abilities to invest in Iraq which has oil that can be a guarantee to any investment in Iraq," Abadi said. "Thirdly, the military field as Iraq is in war condition and we hope for further military cooperation with China," Abadi added. As for the US-led coalition's fighting against the Islamic State (IS) group, Abadi said "the international coalition (assistance) was not at the level of our ambition, we hoped fast and direct support, but it was slow and not as we demand." Abadi reiterated his demand of greater assistance from the international community to Iraq "because a terrorist group like Daaesh which stretches into more than a country would need a global support for Iraq to get rid of it." "We, Iraqis are fighting on the ground, but we need international assistance to stand with Iraq in fighting against terrorism," Abadi said. "I think there is a great interest of the two friendly peoples. It is an interest for all of us today to build mutual relations in the economic, commercial, financial and military fields, and even in the social aspects," Abadi concluded. As for the latest Saudi Arabia's announcement to form a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, Abadi described it as a "unreal" and "strategic mistake." "We, the government of Iraq has regular forces and volunteers to fight Daaesh on the ground, there is also in Syria a coalition fighting against Daaesh and other terrorist groups, but we haven't been consulted nor informed in such matter," Abadi said. "I think it is incorrect and unreal gathering. We welcome the presence of all states to fight Daaesh... but it is an essential and strategic error to form a coalition without the participation of real powers which fight Daaesh in Iraq and Syria," Abadi stressed. On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia announced the formation of an anti-IS Islamic coalition including Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, as well as Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and several African countries. Under the coalition, the member countries would share information and equipment and provide forces if necessary. In the interview, Abadi also reiterated his call to neighboring Turkey to withdraw its troops from northern Iraq, and hoped UN Security Council to issue a resolution to force Turkey to pull out troops from Iraq. "We call for Turkish officials to withdraw troops from Iraq. We have resorted to different actions in accordance with international law to safeguard our rights and sovereignty," Abadi said. "We hope the UN Security Council would issue a resolution calling Turkey to withdraw from Iraqi territory... we also called on Arab League (AL) to hold a session on the level of foreign ministers to take a resolution in this respect," Abadi said. Abadi said that the deployment of Turkish troops would only turn Iraq to be a battlefield for regional powers, which would hamper the original fight against terrorism. "We want Iraq to be a peace zone. We are fighting Daaesh to get rid of its evil, we don't want another conflict on the Iraqi territory by neighboring countries, which are supposed to help Iraq in its war against terrorism not the vice versa," he added. "If Turkey refuses to withdraw its troops, we have a package of procedures to be taken timely, I hope it won't be necessary to go to the other way," Abadi warned. The crisis between the two countries sparked on Dec. 4 when reports said a Turkish training battalion equipped with armored vehicles was deployed near the city of Mosul to train Iraqi paramilitary groups in fighting the IS group. Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, has been under the IS control since June 2014. Baghdad has insisted that the Turkish troops had no authorization from the Iraqi government and thus demanded their withdrawal, while Ankara called the troops only a routine rotation of the trainers.