China says resume stalled Syria talks

Staffan de Mistura announced on Wednesday a three-week stop in the Geneva talks, the first attempt to negotiate an end to Syria’s war in two years, saying they needed immediate help from the rival sides’ international backers, principally the United States and Russia. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said peace talks were never going to be easy, but China had always believed they were the only way to ultimately resolve the Syria issue. All parties should work hard and maintain the momentum for the talks, he told a daily news briefing. 

“We really hope that all parties involved in the peace talks can proactively take confidence-building measures, show sincerity, meet each other halfway and cooperate with the mediation efforts of the UN special envoy,” Mr Lu added. China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has repeatedly called for a negotiated settlement to the Syrian crisis. 

An official at the UN blamed the suspension on Russia’s latest military escalation. A senior UN official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that de Mistura called a halt to the talks after Russia increased air strikes to help the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, undermining the negotiating process. “I think the special envoy decided to suspend the talks because the (United Nations) did not want to be associated with the Russian escalation in Syria, which risks undermining the talks completely,” the official said. “The stepped up airstrikes gain the government ground, but also aim at humiliating the opposition on the ground and in Geneva,” he added. 

Syria’s Opposition’s Hijab said they would not return to peace talks without evidence of humanitarian improvements on the ground. Hijab blamed the Syrian government delegation for collapsing the talks, but its leader Bashar Ja’afari said it was “a failure of everybody except the government of the Syrian Arab Republic.”