China Offers Gradual Cease-Fire For Syria
China said Thursday it had proposed a new initiative to solve the Syrian crisis. The Beijing’s offer speaks on a gradual cease-fire by region.
The plan, presented to Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN and the Arab League envoy, visiting China, “is a continuation of China’s efforts in the direction of a political solution to the Syrian issue,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The latest proposal for a cease-fire in Syria, which initiated by Lakhdar Brahimi, has failed. He proposed a mini-truce on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha.
During the daily briefing of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei he said the sides discussed China’s new and “constructive” proposals for “a step by step cease-fire by region ” and the establishment of a “transitional governmental body.”
Lakhdar Brahimi met Wednesday with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi who called on the international community to support the efforts of Brahimi.
“More and more countries have come to realize that the military option offered no way out and that a political settlement had become an aspiration shared by more and more sides,” said Hong.
“The new Chinese proposal aims at the establishment of an international consensus and support for the mediation efforts by Brahimi (…) and to ensure that the parties concerned in Syria can reach a cease-fire and rapid end to violence in order to begin a process of political transition led by the Syrian people (…). ”
China has previously asked the Syrian government to engage in dialogue with the opposition and to take steps to meet the demands for political change.
