The US should revoke its unilateral sanctions on Syria to facilitate humanitarian aid, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks at a routine press briefing in Beijing after a US State Department spokesperson said the US would not cooperate with the Syrian government in offering humanitarian assistance but only with “humanitarian partners on the ground.”
“The United Nations and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies called for providing emergency aid for Syrian victims to avoid the escalations of the local humanitarian crisis,” Mao Ning said. “The US intervened in the Syrian crisis for a long time. Its military interventions and strict economic sanctions on Syria have caused great civilian casualties, cutting off the Syrian people from the basic necessities of life.”
US troops occupy Syria’s principal oilfields and have plundered more than 80 percent of the country’s oil production, she said.
“They have smuggled and burned Syria’s grain stock, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis here.
“Facing disaster in Syria, the US would be well-advised to abandon its mania for geopolitical games, revoke its unilateral sanctions on Syria, and open its door for humanitarian assistance.”
(Compiled by Wu Meixuan)