China on Thursday strongly condemned a suicide bombing in Syria that killed senior regime officials and urged all sides in the bloody conflict to end violence.
“China opposes all forms of terrorism and violence and strongly condemns yesterday’s bombing attack in Damascus,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement.
“China is deeply worried about the rising tensions in Syria and we again urge all sides in Syria to immediately cease fire and stop the violence.”
The Wednesday attack at a security headquarters left three top regime officials dead, including Assef Shawkat, the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Hong’s comments came after UN chief Ban Ki-moon held talks with Chinese leaders Wednesday in Beijing and urged the Security Council to act to stop the bloodshed in Syria ahead of a Thursday vote on fresh sanctions.
Ban said the Security Council — of which China is a permanent member — must unite and take action on the “very serious” situation in Syria, after meetings with China’s President Hu Jintao and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
China has twice joined with Moscow over the course of the 16-month conflict in blocking earlier resolutions critical of Damascus.
Russia and China are expected to veto Thursday’s resolution despite the mounting concern over Wednesday’s bomb attack.
