CHINA: Syrian envoy leaves hotel to meet Foreign Minister in Beijing

Record ID: 276424

  • Title: CHINA: Syrian envoy leaves hotel to meet Foreign Minister in Beijing
  • Date: 16th August 2012
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (AUGUST 16, 2012) (REUTERS) BOUTHAINA SHAABAN, SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD'S ENVOY, WALKING OUT OF HOTEL AND GETTING INTO CAR/SHAABAN'S CONVOY DRIVING AWAY EXTERIOR OF CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING
  • Embargoed: 31st August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Reuters ID: LVA7GYVF4W0CBH5ML71TTG0A8BQA
  • Story Text: Bouthaina Shaaban, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's envoy, left her hotel in Beijing on Thursday (August 16) in a convoy seen driving into the Chinese Foreign Ministry by Reuters witnesses.
    China's official English newspaper China Daily has reported that Shaaban, an adviser to Assad, would meet Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi later on Thursday. China has so far not disclosed what its officials have told the envoy.
    During an interview with the newspaper published on Thursday, Shaaban praised China and Russia on their stance towards the bloody conflict engulfing her country.
    The interview was the first public comment from her trip to Beijing, where she arrived on Tuesday (August 14), and she sought to cast China as a steadfast friend of President Assad's government, beset by a civil war with opposition forces.
    She said her visit would give "the Chinese leadership a real picture of what's going on in Syria", according to China Daily.
    On Wednesday (August 15), the official People's Daily said China hoped the talks with the envoy and a proposed visit by opposition representatives would help rekindle hopes for a brokered solution to the violence in Syria.
    But Chinese media commentary has also underscored the extent to which Beijing remains resistant to Western proposals for more forceful steps in Syria, where the tide turns steadily against Assad. Former prime minister Riyad Hijab said on Tuesday that Assad controlled less than a third of Syria and his power was crumbling.
    Opposition sources say at least 18,000 people have been killed since rebels began fighting to oust Assad in March 2011.
    Apart from Iran, China and Russia have been Syria's main supporters outside the Arab world and both vetoed proposed U.N. Security Council resolutions meant to add pressure on Assad.
    Although the former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan quit in frustration as the international peace envoy for Syria early this month, China has continued to argue that his proposals offer the most viable way out of the increasingly blood war.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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