China urges UN to handle Syria case

Iran Press TV

Mon Sep 9, 2013 2:55PM GMT

As US war rhetoric intensifies against Syria, China has appealed to Washington to return to the United Nations and seek a consensus in order to properly handle the Syrian issue.

The US "should return to the United Nations Security Council framework to seek consensus and appropriately handle the Syria issue," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday.

Wang also advised US allies to think twice before acting and to exercise "extreme caution."

The remarks come just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Barack Obama at the Group of Twenty developed and developing economies (G20) summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, that a military strike would not solve the Syrian crisis and that a political settlement is the sole way out.

The war rhetoric against the Middle Eastern country first gained momentum on August 21, when the militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed that over a thousand people had been killed in a government chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus.

Damascus categorically rejected the accusation.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that there is plenty of evidence proving that the foreign-backed militants used chemical weapons in Syria.

US President Barack Obama delayed an imminent military strike against Syria on August 31 to seek approval for the move from the Congress, which will debate the issue when lawmakers return from recess on September 9.

The UN, Iran, Russia, and China have been voicing strong opposition to the US plan for war against Syria.

YH/SS