A Chinese diplomat met with leaders of Libya’s revolutionary authority the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Benghazi, China’s Foreign Ministry said today, building deeper relationships with the revolutionaries seeking to oust long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
The visit by Chen Xiaodong, China’s foreign ministry chief for North African affairs, was the second official meeting between China and the NTC leaders in less than a month and comes as revolutionary forces advanced on Gaddafi’s stronghold in Tripoli yesterday.
Chen told the deputy head of the NTC Ali Essawi that China considered the faction “an important dialogue partner,” echoing comments made by senior Chinese officials on NTC Executive head chief Mahmoud Jibril’s visit to Beijing in late June.
” The Libyan people have had enough of the pain of war and chaos which have resulted from the Libyan crisis of the past four months,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei paraphrased Chen as saying.
“China believes that the present situation cannot go on and a political resolution to find a way out of the Libyan crisis must be found as soon as possible,” Hong added, speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
Hong said that the Libyan revolutionaries told envoy Chen they “did not reject the African Union’s relevant suggestions of talks”.
Last week, African Union leaders offered to host talks between the Gaddafi’s government and the revolutionaries.
Chen is the most senior official yet to hold talks with the NTC in Libya, although a Chinese diplomat based in Egypt visited the Libyan revolutionaries in Benghazi for the first time in early June.
China, never very close to Gaddafi, also hosted Libya’s Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi in early June. But Beijing’s courting of the revolutionaries has marked something of a practical policy adjustment for China, which generally avoids entangling itself in nations’ domestic affairs.
Chen said China was “deeply concerned” about the five-month-old civil war and attached “great importance to the NTC’s role in solving the crisis”, spokesman Hong added.
The combatants should begin substantial talks on ceasing hostilities and make a positive response to the international community’s mediation proposal, the official Xinhua news agency cited Chen as saying.
Reports that Gaddafi was seeking a deal under which he would step down have come amid pressure from advancing opposition forces, sanctions, and a NATO bombing campaign.
His government has denied any such negotiations are underway, and NATO’s chief has said he had no confirmation that Gaddafi was looking for a deal to relinquish power.
China was among the emerging powers that abstained in March when the United Nations Security Council authorised NATO-led air strikes to stop Gaddafi’s forces from threatening civilians. China could have used its veto power as a permanent member.
But it also condemned the strikes, and has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and political compromise.
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