China Won't Commit to ‘Friends of Syria’ Meeting
China on Tuesday refused to commit to attend an international conference in Tunis this week after Russia said it would boycott the meeting aimed at seeking political change in Syria.
The Friends of Syria group will meet for the first time on Friday after being created in response to a joint veto by China and Russia of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning a bloody crackdown on protests in Syria.
The group is backed by members of the European Union as well as some Arab nations and the United States.
"China has received the relevant invitation," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular briefing.
"The Chinese side is currently researching the function, mechanism and other aspects of the meeting."
Russia said Tuesday it would not attend because the meeting only supported the Syrian opposition's cause, meaning "the interests of the majority of the Syrian population, which supports the authorities, will not be represented".
Representatives from the Syrian National Council (SNC) and other opposition groups will also be at the meeting, Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem said Monday, reversing an earlier position that the SNC would not be invited.
China and Russia have faced a barrage of international criticism for blocking the latest U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria, including from Arab nations with which Beijing normally has good ties.
Beijing has repeatedly defended its decision and Hong said Tuesday that China was "willing to play a constructive role with all sides for the peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis".
An influential Chinese newspaper on Monday also warned that Western support for Syrian rebels could trigger civil war in the violence-hit nation.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun last week travelled to Damascus for talks with President Bashar Assad during which he called for all sides to stop the violence and for elections to go ahead.
But Zhai, whose visit coincided with some of the worst violence to date in the flashpoint central city of Homs, said Beijing opposed armed intervention and forced "regime change" in Syria.
More than 6,000 people have died in nearly a year of upheaval in Syria, as Assad's hardline regime seeks to snuff out a revolt that began with peaceful protests in March 2011.
Source: Agence France Presse
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