UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Wednesday he hoped China would play an active role in helping end the violence in Syria as he met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi for talks in Beijing. Greeting Yang at the foreign ministry in front of reporters, Brahimi said he hoped "China can play an active role in solving the events in Syria" without elaborating further. China is generally suspicious of intervention in the internal affairs of other nations. Both China and Russia have exercised their veto in the UN Security Council to block resolutions aimed at putting more pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Meeting him on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month, Yang reaffirmed this stance, saying that "political dialogue is the only correct way to tackle this issue". Any political transition must be led by the people of Syria and not imposed by outside forces, he said. Yang also met the Syrian president's envoy in August and an opposition delegation the next month, both times stressing the need for dialogue, the foreign ministry said on its website. He warned the opposition about outside forces directing any political transition, while he told the president's envoy that both sides in the conflict should work with international mediation efforts. Analysts say China's hesitance to back further action in Syria may stem from its discomfort with Western-led military intervention after last year's uprising in Libya, which eventually led to the fall of leader Moamer Kadhafi. China opposed military action in Libya but did not veto a March 2011 Security Council resolution authorising the operation, yet believes the West misinterpreted the resolution and went too far.
