|
China, too, is now positioning itself to recognise the Transitional National Council (TNC). Initially cool and circumspect, unmistakeable signs of changing attitudes in Beijing appeared last week when Chinese ambassador to Qatar Zhang Zhiliang met with TNC president Mustafa Abdeljalil in Doha.
Following this, on Wednesday (June 8), Gheddafi’s foreign minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi, 72, met with foreign minister Yang Jiechi in Beijing. Now Xinhua is quoting Chen Xiaodong, director general of the foreign ministry’s west Asian and north African affairs department as saying that China was “ready to receive a visit” by TNC representatives in Beijing “in the near future”.
Yesterday (Thursday, June 9), foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei, speaking during a regular scheduled press briefing, said that China believed that “what is most pressing now is that relevant parties agree to a cease-fire as soon as possible so as to avert an even greater humanitarian disaster, and resolve the Libyan crisis through dialogue and negotiation and other political means".
Although China reiterates that the crisis can be solved “through dialogue and negotiation and other political means”, its de facto recognition of the TNC as an interlocutor, is a serious set-back for Gheddafi’s regime. (Read more about China’s interests in Libya and its attitude towards the uprising at Watching Libya May 1/2, 2011, Watching Libya April 6, 2011, Watching Libya March 23, 2011, Watching Libya March 19, 2011 and Watching Libya March 14, 2011 below.)
|
