Original title: UN Security Council holds public meeting on situation in Syria
On March 23 local time, the UN Security Council held a regular public meeting on the situation in Syria. The Chinese representative expressed concern over the attack on the Aleppo airport again and called on relevant countries to lift all illegal unilateral sanctions.
UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Peterson briefed on the situation in Syria. He said that the current domestic situation in Syria is relatively stable, and emergency assistance for the earthquake in Syria is still needed.
Geng Shuang, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said in his speech that humanitarian aid to Syria should be more organically combined with post-disaster reconstruction, helping Syria restore infrastructure, strengthen and rebuild housing, and maintain water and power supply systems. China has noticed that relevant countries announced temporary relaxation or suspension of unilateral sanctions against Syria after the strong earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, but temporary measures cannot cover up the systemic damage caused by long-term unilateral sanctions. China calls on relevant countries to immediately and unconditionally lift all illegal unilateral sanctions against Syria and stop artificially aggravating humanitarian disasters.
Geng Shuang also expressed concern over another attack on the Aleppo airport.
Geng Shuang, Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations:Aleppo airport is an important civilian infrastructure and a key hub for the transfer of humanitarian supplies. Its safe operation should be guaranteed. We express our concern over Israel’s re-launched air strikes yesterday (22nd) and hope that similar situations will not happen again. Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.
Geng Shuang said that China welcomes the improvement of relations between Arab countries and Syria, and calls on more countries to take active actions to create a favorable external environment for the political settlement of the Syrian issue.