Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to arrive in Shanghai, renewing the focus on the role China may play in resolving the standoff over the Islamic republic's nuclear program.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seen here, is scheduled to arrive in Shanghai, renewing the focus on the role China may play in resolving the standoff over the Islamic republic's nuclear program. [AFP]

Ahmadinejad was to represent his nation, which has observer status in a regional grouping now gathering in China's largest city, but he was expected to also have his first meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines.

Ahmadinejad is only a guest at Thursday's summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which groups China, Russia, and four Central Asian states plus a handful of observer nations, including Iran.

But attention will be on him more than anyone else, not least because he is also set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since an encounter at the United Nations last year.

Even so, it was unclear what might actually be achieved by the Shanghai talks in regards to the stalemate over Iran's nuclear program, argued David Zweig, a China expert at Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology.

"It's good to have the two leaders, Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin, sit down with Ahmadinejad and perhaps help him understand the need not to go down the nuclear road," Zweig said.

"The soft line on these issues has tended not to work. Look at North Korea, where China has a lot more influence than it has with Iran. In general, if states decide to build the bomb, they do it."

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