CHINA: Beijing reiterates its opposition to military intervention in Syria

Record ID: 280910

  • Title: CHINA: Beijing reiterates its opposition to military intervention in Syria
  • Date: 31st May 2012
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (MAY 30, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN LIU WEIMIN WALKING IN FOR REGULAR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN LIU WEIMIN SAYING: "China opposes military intervention and does not support forced regime change. The fundam
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVACMZCB0G5C0RWIYBSG9HI29Z6E
  • Story Text: China on Wednesday (May 30) reiterated its opposition to military intervention in Syria amid outrage of the massacre of 108 people, nearly half of them children, and called again for all sides to support mediation efforts by peace envoy Kofi Annan.
    The killings in the Syrian village of Houla, some of which the UN peacekeeping chief on Tuesday (May 29) said bore the hallmarks of pro-government militias, have increased pressure on Western governments to intervene.
    The massacre was among the worst carnage of the 14-month uprising against Assad's government.
    Military intervention cannot be ruled out if it is backed by the U.N. Security Council, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday (May 29).
    "China opposes military intervention and does not support forced regime change. The fundamental route to resolving the Syrian issue is still for all sides to fully support Annan's mediation efforts and push all the relevant parties in Syria to carry out diplomatic dialogue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a daily news briefing in Beijing.
    Liu also stopped short of saying whether China would expel Syrian diplomats, after many Western governments threw out Syrian diplomats from their capitals on Tuesday as revulsion over the killing of more than 100 civilians in a Syrian town spurred them to act against President Bashar al-Assad.
    "I have not heard that there has been any impact on the Syrian embassy in China," he said.
    Beijing and Moscow have both vetoed two Security Council resolutions calling for tougher action against Damascus, while stressing hopes for a political solution brokered by Kofi Annan, the former U.N. Secretary-General.
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