China urges assistance for Syria to spur diplomacy

China is urging world powers to provide humanitarian assistance to Syria, as Beijing tries to bolster diplomacy while continuing to oppose any armed intervention into the conflict. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday that Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi broached the idea of assistance in telephone conversations this week with the head of the Arab League and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Algeria. China defied Western powers and the Arab League by joining Russia to veto a U.N. resolution that outlined plans to end the conflict and condemned President Bashar Assad's crackdown on anti-government forces. China was concerned the resolution would pave the way for the West to intervene and unseat an authoritarian government as it had in Libya.