CHINA REJECTS SANCTIONS ON YUGOSLAVIA

China will not join other UN Security Council members seeking to punish the "rump" Yugoslav government for interfering in Bosnia-Herzegovina by imposing sanctions.

"We have no intention of imposing sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wu Jianmin said Thursday.

China and Russia, which says it has reservations about the effectiveness of sanctions, were expected to be drawn into sanctions talks in the Security Council on Friday.

At issue is a two-tier resolution that would begin with a trade ban and escalate automatically to an oil embargo. The resolution was drafted by Britain, France and Belgium.

Wu declined to specify what China's position would be in Council discussions.