Leader of Syrian opposition group to visit China

A Syrian opposition chief will visit China from Sunday to hold talks on an end to the violence in the war-torn nation and a Syrian-led political transition, Beijing said. Hassan Abdel Azim, general coordinator for the Syrian National Coordination Body for Democratic Change (NCC), will visit from September 16 to 20 and will meet Foreign Ministry officials, ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Friday. "In order to push for the political resolution of the Syrian issue, China has been actively working with all parties in Syria in a balanced manner, urging them to implement (Kofi) Annan's six-point proposal (and) relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions," Hong told reporters. China is "also urging an immediate ceasefire, an end to violence and the launch of a Syrian-led political transitional process as soon as possible", he said. Last month in Beijing, China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi delivered the same message to Bouthaina Shaaban, the envoy of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Although repeatedly urging an end to violence, China has joined Russia to repeatedly use their vetoes to scuttle U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at tackling the conflict, putting them at odds with fellow permanent members. Syria's main opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), last week agreed to expand to include more groups opposing Assad, but declined the offer to the NCC, which favors a non-violent overthrow of the regime and opposes foreign military intervention. The SNC has faced frequent criticism for failing to fully represent Syria's opposition.