China mediates to form communication among factions in Syria: Envoy

Sevil Erkuş - ANKARA

AFP photo

China encourages all sides involved in the Syrian crisis to establish “contact and dialogue,” Chinese special envoy for Syria Xie Xiaoyan said July 24 after talks with Turkish officials in Ankara. 

“We hope all parties will resolve their problems by increasing their communication,” Xie told journalists in response to whether or not China is facilitating communication between Ankara and Damascus. 

Xie arrived in Ankara after he had talks with Iranian officials in Tehran over the weekend. 

“Since I have been appointed as special envoy one year ago, I have been playing the role of a mediator and trying to maintain communication between sides,” he said, while abstaining to comment more on the details of his role.

The envoy, who was paying his third visit to Turkey, stated that his country has relations with all parties regarding the Syrian case and this was an advantage to his country.

China “defends Syria’s sovereignty and preserves the country’s territorial integrity,” the envoy said. He stressed on the importance of finding a solution under U.N. resolutions, adding that the Syrian people will decide on their country’s future. 

Asked about their stance on the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the envoy said the people of Syria have the capacity to respond to questions on who will be the new leader, how the elections will be conducted and the future constitution of the country. 

“Syrian people will decide on the future of Syria because the issue is absolutely internal to the country. Nobody wants to see in Syria what happened in Iraq and Libya,” Xie said. 

China urges for a solution to which all sides will agree, Xie said, adding that his country was ready to contribute in order to accelerate the political solution. 

The envoy said as the stakeholders of the Syrian issue, they have agreed that de-escalation zones would not pave the way for the division of the country. Some parties have differences on some aspects regarding the de-escalation zones, he said, while adding that they hoped an immediate consensus would be reached on the issue.