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China says Syria situation worsening, still opposes intervention
BEIJING |
BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday the situation in Syria was worsening but that it still opposed any outside armed intervention in the country, ahead of a visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A political solution remained the only way out for Syria, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a daily news briefing.
"We have always believed that the only correct path must be a political resolution to the crisis. Currently, the situation is worsening, but the worse the situation, the more unity is needed," Hong said.
He also repeated Chinese opposition to any the use of chemical weapons, while restating Chinese opposition to armed intervention in Syria.
"China adamantly opposes any country developing, manufacturing or using chemical weapons," Hong said.
"China opposes armed intervention over the Syria issue."
China has repeatedly condemned any plan which hints at outside interference in the Syrian crisis or any plan that would include "regime change".
Clinton is due in China later on Tuesday.
Both China and Russia have vetoed proposed U.N. Security Council resolutions intended to put pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.
In July, Clinton urged world powers to show Russia and China they would pay a price for impeding progress toward a democratic transition in Syria, prompting an angry rebuttal from Beijing.
(Reporting by Sabrina Mao and Chris Buckley; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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Indeed, even if peace was still plausible, it would mean loss of power for Assad and his henchmen — or their answering for war crimes, as they had reached the point of no return to civilized governance long ago. Their only hope now is to fight the rebellion and carve out a chunk of Syria for their refuge.
The Iranian regime is absolutely determined to help Assad do this — which is precisely why the path through Syria has become our gateway to Iran.
And let us not fool ourselves: That regime will have to be confronted militarily, sooner or later. The time to do so is now when we have other nations by our side going into Syria.
As for Russia and China, these two are reasonable opponents and will do what is best for them — and the rabid Iranian regime is not much better for them as it is for the rest of us. And like us, Russia and China have given up all hope of taming it.
It is foreseeable then that Russia and China will again watch as we spend our blood and treasure to knock out another troublesome regime in the world.
A more pressing question is whether we have any stomach left for another war. Assad and the Iranian regime are betting that we don’t.
But then so did Saddam and Gaddafi.
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