Political Settlement Only Way to Solve Crisis in Syria: China
CAIRO-China’s Special Envoy for Syria Xie Xiaoyan has stressed that the only way out of the crisis in Syria is political settlement based on dialogue, according to the Chinese News Agency Xinhua.
The Agency quoted Xiaoyan as saying to Chinese and Egyptian media representatives in Cairo that he does not see a quick fix to the Syrian issue, stressing that military option against Syria is not a solution.
Xie Xiaoyan is on an official visit to Cairo where he met with officials from the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs to discuss the solutions possible to the crisis in Syria.
Speaking about the situation in Syria, he said the situation remains tense and precarious, most notably after the alleged chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun.
“The basic position of China is this: we are firmly against and strongly condemn any use of chemical weapons by any country, any organization or any individual under any circumstances in any place at any time,” the Chinese official said.
Second, he added, China calls for “an independent, impartial, professional and thorough investigation into the case to find out the perpetrators, catch them, condemn them and punish them according to international law and conventions.”
“It is important to start the investigation, but the formation of the investigation team should be just, independent and balanced so as to provide credibility and authority, and the findings must be accompanied with hard reliable evidence and actual facts,” he stressed.
The envoy also said that “the Syrian parties should not divert from the correct path as political settlement through negotiations,” adding that they should also show political will to engage in dialogue for understanding of each other, to “make sacrifices when sacrifices are required.”
“I see some positive developments…there is ceasefire in place and basically the ceasefire agreement is holding,” the Chinese official said, adding that the most important thing at the moment is that the parties should avoid any escalation of tension and fully implement the ceasefire agreement.
The official also said that another positive development is a stronger realization and commitment to fight against terrorism which does block any incentives for dialogue”.
H.M