Mediator on Syria meets China’s FM to seek support

UN envoy reaches out after death toll for failed cease-fire exceeds 500

31 October 2012, 6:38 am

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Syrian residents walk on a street among the debris of buildings damaged by heavy shelling in the southeast of Aleppo City, on October 27, 2012 (photo credit: AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

BEIJING (AP) — The UN-Arab League envoy to Syria is meeting with the Chinese foreign minister to solicit support from Beijing in international efforts to ending Syria’s civil war.

Lakhdar Brahimi told Yang Jiechi that he hopes “China can play an active role in solving the events in Syria.”

Reporters were ushered out of Wednesday’s meeting after his opening remarks.

The meeting comes days after an internationally sanctioned truce that Brahimi proposed failed to take hold. The death toll for what was supposed to be a four-day cease-fire ending Monday exceeded 500.

The international community remains at a loss about how to stop the war. The US and other Western and Arab nations have called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, while Russia, China and Iran continue to back him.