People's Daily
China voted against a proposed Syria resolution at the United Nations General Assembly after saying "no" to the same proposal at the UN Security Council previously.
Some noted that if the resolution passed at the Security Council on Feb. 4, Syria would not experience the same conflict escalation as today.
However, such an argument is based on the assumption that as soon as the UN Security Council resolution passed the resolution, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would start power transfer according to the resolution and political talks would be launched immediately. This is what the Assad regime resolutely rejects.
The Assad regime should hand over power within two weeks according to the timetable under the Arab League framework. Assuming that the Security Council resolution was passed, there is a possibility that the Assad regime would move forward at any cost after being pushed to the corner. The conflict in Syria would surely be worse than the present.
The visit of Zhai Jun, China's Deputy Foreign Minister and special envoy of Chinese government to Syria, is another diplomatic attempt of China to promote political dialogue on Syria. The messages sent by Zhai during his trip can be summarized by five key words: concern, stopping violence, dialogue, cooperation and Charter.
First, the Chinese government has expressed its serious concern to all parties concerned in Syria. China is deeply worried about the fact that continuous conflict escalation and civilian casualties are undermining regional peace, and believes that such a situation must be changed immediately.
Second, China urges all parties concerned in Syria to stop violent behaviors at once. China has condemned all kinds of violence against civilians on many occasions, including the Syrian government that controls the country's armed forces, and the rebels who seek to overthrow the government through violence, in particular, the political forces that plotted bombings in government agencies. Only when all parties abandon violence, can civilian be actually reduced.
Third, China advocates the immediate launch of "inclusive political dialogue with no preconditions attached," which is the key to ensure the start of Syrian political process. "Political dialogue with no preconditions attached" means that everything is possible as long as all parties concerned reach an agreement.China urges the Assad regime to listen to people's reasonable appeals such as demands for change and development, but China has no position on who comes into power in Syria and will fully respect Syrian people's decision on their own political system. "Inclusiveness" means that all political forces should participate in the dialogue. Only by allowing every political group to participate, can political dialogue truly reflect the political reality in Syria and only by doing this, can an agreement be achievable.
Fourth, China hopes that all parties concerned in Syria to cooperate with Arab countries and the Arab League and to solve problems through political and peaceful approaches within the Arab League framework. Using the veto right at the UN Security Council and voting against the Syria resolution do not indicate that China is denying the Arab League's diplomatic efforts. Instead, China supports the Arab world's proposals such as stopping violence immediately, protecting civilians, providing humanitarian aid and avoiding outside military interference. China only opposes the contents in the Arab League's scheme that may be used by the West as the excuse to start a war.
Finally, China advocates to strictly following principles of the Charter of the United Nations and norms governing international relations. China is against the so-called "regime change" through armed intervention in any country, and believes sanctions do not help proper solutions of related issues. According to the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council does not have the function of discussing internal affairs of its members, and has no right to decide which power force in any country should come into power or step down. Principles in the Charter such as members' sovereignty and noninterference in internal affairs are foundations for small and medium-sized countries to establish themselves in the whole word. If such rules are broken, the international community will have no peace at all.
China's stance is completely based on the fundamental interests of Arab countries and people. Such a stance is able to withstand the test of history. If Western countries continue to give the same support to Syrian rebels, a large-scale civil war may finally break out, which will likely incur outside military intervention. If this happens, history will give the answer to the question - who should be responsible for the situation?
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