China: Opportunity window opens for peaceful Syria solution

Spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Hong Lei said on Wednesday that a window has opened paving the way for a peaceful solution to Syrian issue following the United States-Russian deal on international audit over Syria's chemical weapons. Hong noted that the Syrian government, accepting cooperation, submitted a full declaration of its chemical weapons arsenal in line with the United Nations' Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), meeting the deadline set by the Russia-US deal to place the weapons stockpile under international control to avoid a US military strike. Expressing Beijing's hope for the US-Russia deal to yield concrete results, Hong stressed that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) immediately reached a decision, kicking off the process of investigation and destruction of the said weapons. Hong said the UN Security Council's attitude towards the issue is "in the same direction" with China and provided a loud and clear political support for solution. Reiterating the remark of Beijing that urged for the destruction process to be carried out simultaneously with the political transition process, Hong called for all the parties of the Syrian conflict to put an end to violence and begin the process for political negotiations and transition at once for peace and stability in the country.