On December 24, 2015, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem of Syria together met the press after their talks in Beijing.

Wang Yi expressed that the Syrian Foreign Minister’s visit to China is at a critical moment of the Syrian issue. He and the Syrian Foreign Minister exchanged in-depth views with a focus on how to advance the political settlement process and reached important consensus. First is to stick to the direction of politically resolving the Syrian issue. Second is to insist that the future and destiny of Syria should be decided by its people. Third is to adhere to the UN’s role as a main mediator. The three-point adherence should be seen throughout the political settlement process of the Syrian issue. Wang Yi said that the three-point adherence constitutes an important part of the Resolution 2254 adopted by the UN Security Council not long ago, won approval of all its members and serves the interests of Syria and its people.

Wang Yi pointed out that under the background of the international community joining forces to combat terrorism, the political settlement of the Syrian issue embraces a new opportunity. The Syrian Foreign Minister expressed that Syria will resolutely combat terrorism, which China welcomes. All the counterterrorism efforts should be respected and supported. The Syrian Foreign Minister expressed clearly his willingness to participate in the dialogues with the oppositions, which China appreciates. China hopes that the peace talks can be held as soon as possible and proceed. The two sides also exchanged views on issues such as ceasing fire and stopping violence, easing humanitarian crisis, and future reconstruction of Syria. The Syrian side expressed that it will partially cease fire at first and expand the area gradually and cooperate with the international community to conduct humanitarian rescue and that it hopes to launch economic reconstruction as early as possible.

Wang Yi expressed that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China always upholds an objective and just stance, and sticks to promoting the peace talks. We have sent multiple batches of humanitarian assistance to Syria and relevant countries. China will once again provide humanitarian assistance worth 40 million RMB to Syria and continue to help the country within its capacity in future in line with its needs.

Walid al-Moallem thanked China for its selfless support to the Syrian people. He said that as a member of the UN, Syria is responsible to implement the Resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council. Meanwhile, Syria holds that its future should be decided by its people without external intervention. Once the oppositions in Syria form a unified list, the Syrian government will depart immediately for Geneva to participate in the dialogues with the oppositions. It is hoped that the dialogues will be successful and thus promote the establishment of a government by national consensus and a constitutional convention so as to formulate a new election law and finally realize a nation-wide general election in 18 months.

Walid al-Moallem noted that as an important participant of the Syrian issue, China is hoped to play a bigger role in pushing the political settlement of the Syrian issue.