- BEIJING: China’s envoy to Syria told President Bashar Assad’s government to stop violence immediately and help the United Nations and International Committee for the Red Cross send aid to strife-hit areas, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Liu Weimin, also told reporters that the envoy, Li Huaxin, had also promoted Beijing’s backing for a mediation process between the Syrian government and opposition groups facilitated by the United Nations and Arab League.
The envoy Li Huaxin’s visit to Damascus is Beijing’s latest effort to counter accusations from Western and Arab leaders that it and Russia abetted expanding violence by Assad’s forces by vetoing two United Nation resolutions aimed at pressuring him.