CHINA: U.N. chief calls for political solution to Syrian crisis

Record ID: 566452

  • Title: CHINA: U.N. chief calls for political solution to Syrian crisis
  • Date: 19th June 2013
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (FILE - JUNE 2013) (REUTERS) CARS DRIVING PAST TIANANMEN SQUARE PORTRAIT OF FORMER CHINESE CHAIRMAN MAO ZEDONG POLICE VAN DRIVING PAST PEOPLE
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE5IPWAF4TSE4FJLUNGZN6JJAH
  • Story Text: The Syrian crisis needs a political solution, not a military one, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Chinese state media in Beijing on Tuesday (June 18).
    "Considering that more than 93,000 people have already been killed during the last two years, and more than 1.6 million people have fled their countries as refugees now, a quarter of population, of total population in Syria have been affected and they need urgent humanitarian assistance. We cannot go on like this (in this) way, this is an unacceptable situation in terms of political tragedy, in terms of humanitarian situation and human rights' abuses. I really urge all the leaders to agree on a political modality where we can resolve this one. And this time I again believe that there is no military solution, only political solution can be a way to address this issue," he said.
    Ban made the comments to official broadcaster CCTV in Beijing the day before he was due to the meet Xi Jinping for the first time since he became China's president in March.
    China has long advocated a political resolution to the crisis.
    Western diplomats said last week that the United States is considering a no-fly zone in Syria as it weighs options for intervention into the two-year-old civil war, after the White House said Syria had crossed a "red line" by using nerve gas.
    After months of deliberation, President Barack Obama's administration said on Thursday (June 13) it would now arm rebels, having obtained proof the Syrian government used chemical weapons against fighters trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
    Any such move would also come up against a potential veto from Assad ally Russia in the U.N. Security Council. The Kremlin dismissed U.S. evidence of Assad's use of nerve gas.
    U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice sent a letter to the U.N. detailing Syria's use of chemical weapons in four attacks between March and May.
    Western countries have spent the past two years demanding Assad leave power but declining to use force as they did in Libya, because of the far greater risk of fighting a much stronger country that straddles sectarian divides at the heart of the Middle East and is backed by Iran and Russia.
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