China backs Assad referendum, election plan: Syria TV
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - China backs President Bashar al-Assad's plans for a referendum leading to parliamentary elections as a way to resolve the Syrian crisis, Syrian TV quoted Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun as saying on Saturday.
"We hope that the referendum on the constitution and the parliamentary elections take place in a continuous way," Zhai said during a visit, according to Syrian state television.
China also called for end to the violence that has marked the 11-month-old uprising against Assad's rule.
"China...calls on the government, the opposition and those with arms for an immediate stop to the violence, Zhai was quoted as saying during a visit to Damascus to meet Assad. "The Chinese experience shows a nation cannot develop without stability.
China and Russia have been Assad's most important international defenders during a crackdown on the uprising which has killed several thousand people and drawn condemnation from the United Nations and Western powers.
Beijing and Moscow have both taken a stand against any foreign intervention or a change of government forced from outside.
Zhai was due to meet Assad on Saturday but it was not clear from the Syrian television report, monitored in Beirut, if the meeting had already taken place.
Assad announced his plan on Wednesday for a referendum on a new constitution on February 26 followed by a multi-party election. The Syrian opposition and the West swiftly dismissed it as sham.
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The Russians were pushing the angle that without Assad’s Shia regime backing Hamas and Hezbollah to keep Israel busy, the mullahs in Iran will flip out and start launching rockets at Israel. So I guess the Syrians are just supposed to allow themselves to be wiped out to keep Iran from nuking Tel Aviv? I don’t think that’s going to sell very well anywhere but Moscow and Beijing.
The dictators are circling the wagons, it’s kind of scary. The world had this same problem in 1937. Luckily both Russia and China are on the edge of revolt, too. They’re unlikely to enter a proxy war while trying to contain separatist movements all along their borders.
Better to knock Syria’s regime out quickly, get the oil flowing to Russia and China again to keep them pacified, and deal with Iran later.
The real question is whether there’s a higher risk to the US and EU if they stand by and watch a minority ruled country commit genocide, or intervene subtly or overtly to turn the tide toward pluralism.
Iran is going to be isolated no matter what, the clock is running out for them. But can Russia or China afford a trade war, or even a conventional military conflict with the US and the EU? Probably not, especially if it’s unpopular domestically as the case appears.
The dictators are in a tough negotiating position and have little if any incentive to get involved militarily, especially if the west assures access to the hotly contested resources involved. Whereas the US and EU will look like hypocrites and cowards to the rest of the world if they allow another holocaust, perhaps a larger threat to their futures.
The West can’t repeat the mistake of indifference like the 1930s. Nor should they.
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