China is insisting on a deadline for an American troop pullout out of Iraq.
In fresh criticism of a draft UN resolution presented by Washington and London on Monday, China, which has a veto in the Security Council, proposed changes that would set a time limit on the US-led multinational force's stay in Iraq after the occupation ends officially on June 30th.
France, Russia, Germany and Spain have made similar objections. Paris and Moscow say they will seek amendments to strengthen Iraqi sovereignty.
"It should say in the resolution that the government has a final say whether the force should be extended and on major actions to be taken by the force," China's UN ambassador, Mr Wang Guangya, told reporters shortly before Security Council discussions on the resolution.
The existing draft asks for an effectively open-ended mandate for the US-led force, reviewable in a year.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had appeared to go further than US officials in foreseeing Iraqi control of foreign troops, denied he was at odds with Washington over the chain of command.
The US military spokesman in Iraq, Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt, said: "It has not been firmly established . . . what the relationship will be. Broadly it will be a partnership."