US forces China to speak up on Syria

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  • US forces China to speak up on Syria - Indian Punchline
    http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2013/09/20/us-forces-china-to-speak-up-on-syria
    by M K Bhadrakumar – September 20, 2013

    So far, Washington has been discreetly sidestepping China and training the artillery fire on Russia over Syria. But on Thursday, Kerry took the gloves off — “we do have differences between our nations and have disagreed sharply over how the international community should respond to the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons. With negotiations ongoing at the Security Council, we look forward to China playing a positive, constructive, important role.” {Emphasis added.]

    That’s pretty strong wording. But when his turn came, Wang calmly responded, “The Chinese side will continue to play its positive and constructive role in that direction.” That is, the Chinese stance will run consistently on the track on which it has run so far.
    It seems the Obama administration’s lingering hope that China would “defect” and leave Russia high and dry turned out to be wishful thinking. At any rate, Kerry came out of the talks with Wang to read out to the media a hard-hitting statement on Syria.

    He forcefully asserted that the UN inspectors’ report makes it abundantly clear that the Syrian regime used the chemical weapons in the attack on August 21, Kerry then said, “Now the test comes. TheSecurity Council must be prepared to act next week. It is vital for the international community to stand up and speak out in the strongest possible terms about the importance of enforceable action… a binding resolution that codifies the strongest possible mechanism to achieve the goal and to achieve it rapidly. [Emphasis aded.]
    Kerry stopped short of threatening what the US would do if it fails to get a “binding” Security Council resolution. Needless to say, Beijing took careful note.

    Xinhua ran a commentary today with Beijing dateline politely but firmly affirming the Chinese line on Syria and spelling out its differences with the US.
    The commentary suggested that the US “needs to give adequate consideration to China’s concerns.” It picked holes in Kerry’s statement, first, that the UN inspectors have confirmed the chemical weapons attack, but “the perpetrators have yet to be identified.” Interestingly, it corroborated this assertion by quoting the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

    Second, it pointed out that if any US military strike tips the military balance in favor of the Syrian rebels, they may seize the chemical weapons and they include extremists or even al-Qaeda. That, “surely isn’t in the US national interests and will instead greatly undermine the US credibility.”

    Therefore, the commentary advised Washington that the “common objective” should be the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons and the efforts towards “an ultimate political solution” to the Syrian conflict, which demands at the moment “shelving differences and accommodating each other’s concerns.” It concluded that “with joint efforts, a short cut might be found towards a political solution to the Syria crisis.”