The Russian president has signalled that Moscow might be prepared to soften its opposition to further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans.
Dmitry Medvedev, speaking after talks with US President Obama, said that in some cases sanctions were "inevitable".
But the Chinese foreign ministry has said that increasing pressure on Iran would not be effective.
"Sanctions and exerting pressure are not the way to solve problems," said spokeswoman Jiang Yu.
She said sanctions "are not conducive for the current diplomatic efforts on the Iran nuclear issue".
Iran's president did not refer directly to the nuclear stand-off in his address to the UN General Assembly in New York.read more
