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| China, Russia still oppose Western meddling in Syria |
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In a telephone conversation on Saturday with the new UN Arab League special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi urged the international community to seek a political solution to the Syrian crisis and vowed that China would continue cooperation with the international community over the issue, Press TV reported.
The Chinese top diplomat reiterated that his country has been deeply concerned about the humanitarian conditions in Syria, saying Beijing expected Brahimi to play an active role in resolving the Syria crisis.
The UN Arab League envoy, for his part, attached great importance to China’s role in putting an end to the ongoing crisis in Syria.
China has been critical of Western powers for undermining peace efforts of the UN and has vowed to cooperate with the new UN Syria envoy to help bring an end to the violence inside Syria.
Meanwhile, pointing to the recent developments in the crisis-hit Arab state, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also described as naïve and untenable any plans to withdraw Syrian government troops as long as fighting with the insurgents continues.
“There are different attitudes towards the Syrian regime. But while fighting in the streets continues, it is absolutely unrealistic to say that the only way out is for one side to unilaterally capitulate,” the official said during a public appearance at the Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs.
China along with Russia vetoed a Western-backed draft resolution in July, which called for new sanctions against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
On Friday, in a meeting with Syrian Ambassador Riyad Haddad in Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said intra-Syrian political negotiations to end the crisis should start as soon as possible, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
According to a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Bogdanov stated that “to end sufferings of the civilian population in Syria, it is necessary to immediately stop any violence, no matter where it is coming from, and start a political settlement process involving Syrians themselves, based on the international community's consensus decisions, that is, the Action Group's Geneva communiqué and the Kofi Annan plan.”
The two officials discussed “the situation in Syria and around it, particularly the outcomes of an August 30 UN Security Council meeting dealing with the humanitarian situation in this country.”
Russian and Syrian officials agreed that “unilateral economic sanctions imposed by a number of states and regional associations seriously complicated the lives of ordinary Syrian people,” it added.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals.
Damascus also says the insurgents are supported by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on August 1 that the country is engaged in a “crucial and heroic” battle that will determine the destiny of the nation.
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