HIGHLIGHTS: Both U.S. & Iraq Skeptical about Return of UN Inspectors to Baghdad||Using Force Would not Help Solve the Iraqi Issue, Says China||Iraq Won't Allow Inspectors' Return without a Price|| STORY: The United States still wants U.N. inspectors to return to Iraq but only if they have "unfettered and unconditional access" to search any sites they want, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said Tuesday.

"Iraq's track record in the past in this regard has not been a particularly encouraging one," Negroponte said. "But if they were to cooperate fully with an international inspection regime that could be an important part of the resolution of this question of disarming Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction."

Negroponte was asked whether the United States still supported the return of U.N. weapons inspectors following comments Monday by Vice President Dick Cheney who said their return wouldn't end U.S. worries about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs.

The United States has accused Iraq of trying to rebuild its banned weapons programs, and has called for Saddam's ouster.
Iraq's Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said in an interview Tuesday that any return of inspectors would not prevent U.S. military strikes.

Even though Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, the United States wants to oust Saddam, he told the state-run weekly newspaper al-Rafidain. He also accused U.N. inspectors of igniting past crises, which gave the United States grounds to launch numerous attacks on Iraq since 1991.

IRAQ'S DIPLOMATIC CHARM OFFENSIVE

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told his Iraqi counterpart, Naji Sabri, on Tuesday that China opposes using force against Iraq. But he said Baghdad should cooperate with the United Nations and allow weapons inspectors to return.

In a comment apparently aimed at the United States, Tang said using force or threats of force wouldn't help solve the Iraqi issue and would only cause regional tension and instability, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that Iraq's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs have been dismantled along with the long-range missiles to deliver them.

Inspectors left Baghdad ahead of U.S. and British airstrikes in December 1998 to punish Iraq for not cooperating with inspections. Iraq has barred them from returning.

The United Nations has failed to persuade Iraq to readmit the inspectors despite three rounds of talks since March. Iraq said it wants to continue a dialogue on their return - but with conditions U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has rejected.

President Bush has warned Iraq of unspecified consequences if the inspectors are not readmitted.

PHOTO CAPTION

Weapons inspectors destroy the al-Hakkam building, which could have been used to produce biological weapons in Iraq, in this May/June 1996 United Nations handout picture. Saddam Hussein may be confused by the mixed signals Washington has been sending on the possible return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq following