By Zhu Shanshan (Global Times)08:40, February 06, 2012
Experts called for unified international efforts to promote peaceful negotiations as a way to stop the violence and settle disputes in Syria, after Russia and China jointly vetoed an Arab-European draft UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution concerning Syria on Saturday.
Proposed by European and Arab nations, the draft aimed to give strong backing to an Arab League plan to ask Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Russia and China used their second ever double-veto to block the plan in the UNSC as the two countries believed that it was not the best way to promote peace in the Middle Eastern country, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
After the vote, US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice criticized Russia and China for "selling out the Syrian people and shielding a craven tyrant."
British Permanent Representative to the UN Mark Lyall Grant said London was "appalled" at the veto, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy "strongly deplored" the decision by Russia and
China.
Hours before the vote on the draft, Russia issued an amended resolution, which sought "to fix two basic problems" - the first was the imposition of conditions on dialogue; the second
was that measures must be taken to influence not only the government but also anti-government armed groups.
"The draft resolution did not adequately reflect the real state of affairs in Syria and has sent an unbalanced signal to the Syrian parties," Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said
after the vote.
"Russia and China were forced to vote against the unbalanced draft resolution," the Russian foreign ministry said.Li Baodong, Chinese permanent representative to the UN, expressed regret that the Russian proposal was ignored and said that China supports the revised proposal raised by Russia.
"To push through a vote when parties are still seriously divided over the issue will not help maintain the unity and authority of the Security Council, or help resolve the issue," he said.
Ruan Zongze, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), told the Global Times that as a veto-wielding council member, China played its role in presiding over justice this time. "Instead of being just a rubber stamp, the UNSC should be an institution to promote justice, which is what China wants to do under the council," Ruan said.
"China holds that restraint from violence by each party in Syria crisis is needed, while the Arab-European draft resolution only emphasized the Syrian government's activities and ignored the other parties," Ruan said, adding that Beijing also called for Syrian authorities to listen more to their
people and push forward reforms.
China agrees with the Russian proposal since it is more reasonable and in line with the UN Charter, but Beijing's intention for vetoing the original resolution is different from Russia's, Li Guofu, a Middle East expert at CIIS, told the Global Times.
"China's decision to block the resolution is aimed at protecting the UN Charter and principles of International Law so as to settle the Syria issue properly. If the power shifts right now, Syria could be dragged into another Iraq-like situation or even worse," Li noted, adding that Russia's veto
may be based more on its own considerations. According to Churkin, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has instructed Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the director of Russia's service for external intelligence, Mikhail Fradkov, to travel to Syria tomorrow to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
At least 260 civilians were killed and hundreds more were wounded over the weekend in Homs following assaults by Assad's troops, the opposition Syria National Council said.Protesters stormed Syrian embassies in Canberra, Athens, Berlin, Cairo, Kuwait and London as news spread of the Homs
shelling on Saturday, according to AFP.
The UN puts the total death toll in Syria's unrest at more than 5,400, while the Syrian government says more than 2,000 army and security personnel have been killed.
Syria says it is being targeted by the West and by hostile neighbors providing diplomatic cover for an armed insurgency steered from abroad.
Ruan urged the international community to give a unified voice to promote peaceful negotiations in solving the crisis and to demand both the Syrian government and opposition forces stop
the violence.
"After being blocked twice by Russia and China at the UNSC, the West may seek other ways to support the anti-government movement in Syria, or even take their own military action or
sanctions without UN authorization," Ruan noted.
Li echoed the idea by saying that the West will increase its military and financial support for Syrian opposition forces, and raise economic and diplomatic pressure on the current government as long as Assad is still in power.
Agencies also contributed to this story
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