US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urged China and Russia to cooperate with international efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria, and urged the two nations to be "part of the solution" to the ongoing crisis in the unrest-hit Middle East nation.
Clinton made the remarks during a joint press conference with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in the Black Sea port of Batumi. Clinton arrived in Georgia after visiting Armenia on Monday as part of a whirlwind seven-nation European tour.
"I think it's pretty clear that we all have to intensify our efforts to speed a political transition, and that has to be the main focus of our diplomacy and our work, both with each other, within the international community, at the United Nations, and other settings, even as we increase political and economic pressure on the Assad regime," she said.
The top US diplomat made the comments while answering a question about continued refusal by China and Russia to support western efforts aimed at getting international backing for a political transition in Syria.
"I think it's clear to anyone, I think it's hard to reach any other fair and reasonable conclusion that after what we have seen in the last 10 days, particularly the massacre in Houla, that peace and human dignity will not be possible in Syria without political change," she noted.
Clinton was apparently referring to last week's massacre of at least 108 civilians in the Syrian village of Houla. The Syrian government blames Islamist militants for the massacre, but the UN human rights office insists that Syrian security forces were clearly involved in the Houla killings.
The US Secretary of State said she was looking forward for her meeting in Istanbul on Wednesday with leaders of European nations as well as Syria's neighboring states who fear that Syria is slowly slipping into a civil war which could threaten the security and stability of the entire region.
"I will then be seeing Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan in Washington on Friday, and we believe there is a way forward and we're going to continue to pursue that. And we invite the Russians and the Chinese to be part of the solution of what is happening in Syria," she added.
Earlier in the day, China and Russia indicated that they were opposed to any foreign military intervention in Syria for bringing a forced regime change. The two nations also agreed to work together at the UN and reiterated their calls for a political dialogue between President Bashar al-Assad and his opponents.
Incidentally, China and Russia had vetoed a UN resolution endorsing an Arab League plan for Syria at the UN Security Council (UNSC) on February 4. The two nations had also jointly vetoed a Western resolution condemning repression in Syria in October.
The UN estimates that more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the popular unrest against President Assad began in Syria in March 2011. The opposition claims the death toll to be closer to 11,000.
Currently, some 300 UN monitors are currently in Syria to observe the implementation of a six-point peace plan proposed by joint UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to end the violence. The rebel groups have said that they will no longer honor the earlier agreed ceasefire under Annan's plan, citing the Houla massacre as well continued killings of civilians by Syrian security forces.
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