Spotlight: China firmly opposes foreign inteference in Syrian affairs, calls for political solution

China has firmly opposed the interference in Syria's internal affairs while calling for a political solution to the long-running crisis, a Chinese diplomat has said.

In advance of the fifth anniversary of the Syria crisis, Chinese Ambassador to Syria Wang Kejian urged related parties in Syria to prioritize their state and national interests and start a U.N.-sponsored and Syrians-led process of politically solving the crisis.

Massive anti-government demonstrations broke out in Syria on March 15, 2011, and gradually evolved into a civil conflict that has so far killed more than 250,000 people and displaced 6.6 million others.

Wang told Xinhua that China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, bears important responsibilities of safeguarding world peace and stability.

China has never been absent from playing its due role on Syria issue, Wang said, adding that for the past five years, China has been upholding justice while pursuing shared interests, firmly safeguarding the UN Charter and opposing foreign interference in Syrian affairs.

China has been making efforts to promote peace talks through actively mediating between the Syrian government and the opposition as well as playing an important and positive role in such international mechanisms as the International Syria Support Group, the ambassador said.

China will continue to play its distinct role on the issue to help Syria recover peace and stability at an early date, calling on related parties to maintain the hard-won momentum of politically solving the crisis, Wang said.

He urged the Syrian people to find a political solution through negotiations by taking into account interests of all parties.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, held a meeting Friday in Moscow, during which the two top diplomats stressed the need to beef up coordination on a number of growing challenges in world affairs and exchanged views on the upcoming intra-Syrian reconciliation talks in Geneva.

At a press conference held Tuesday on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the Chinese National People's Congress, Wang expounded on China's Middle East policy.

"When it comes to the Middle East affairs, China has never been a mere onlooker," Wang said, adding that China has all along supported the Arab countries' quest for independence and liberation, and is enjoying ever closer economic and trade ties with the region and contributing actively to peace and stability in the Middle East.

"We adopt an objective and impartial attitude, we try to facilitate peace talks, and our position is selfless and aboveboard," Wang said.

"On the basis of not interfering in other countries' internal affairs, we want to play a more active role in seeking the political settlement of burning issues in the region," he said.

A new round of reconciliation talks between the Syrian government and its opposition in Geneva is scheduled to kick off Monday.

However, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and representatives of the opposition on Saturday made diverging comments on whether to discuss the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Geneva peace talks.

The previous round of talks ended last month with no tangible results, but intensified international efforts have managed to establish a cessation of hostilities in Syria, which started from midnight of Feb. 26. Endi