By IANS,
Beijing : China has said its veto of a UN Security Council resolution on Syria was “misunderstood”, and called for a peaceful solution to the crisis.
“China’s stance wasn’t understood by some countries,” China’s Middle East envoy Wu Sike told the China Daily.
He said that China would not protect the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and that its priority was to prevent further violence.
“China will continue to keep in touch with all concerned parties in the UN, the Arab League and the Syrian government and all of its political parties,” he said.
Beijing supports all efforts that are conducive to peacefully resolving the issue, but opposes any armed intervention in Syria, it said.
Russia and China, the two veto-wielding UN Security Council members, earlier in February blocked a resolution that called on al-Assad to step down.
Syria for almost a year is living under continuous anti-government protests. According to the UN, the total number of victims in the country has exceeded 5,400 people. Syrian authorities say over 2,000 military and law enforcement officials were killed in clashes with well-armed militants.