China urges US to lift sanctions on Syria

Russian rescue personnel search for survivors and victims under the rubble of a collapsed building in the town of Jableh in Syria's northwestern province of Latakia after an earthquake on February 7, 2023. The Syrian Red Crescent appealed to Western countries to lift sanctions and provide aid after a powerful earthquake killed more than 1,600 people in the country. PHOTO AFP BEIJING - A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Wednesday urged the United States to immediately lift unilateral sanctions on Syria as the country is facing a serious humanitarian crisis.

At a regular press briefing, Spokesperson Mao Ning said that the United Nations and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies called for urgent assistance for the victims in Syria in order to prevent further deterioration of the local humanitarian situation.

Mao said that the United States has been involved in the Syrian crisis for a long time, and that the US military interventions and harsh economic sanctions on Syria have resulted in great civilian casualties, cutting the Syrian people from basic necessities of life and blocking economic development and reconstruction.

Even today, the US troops still occupy Syria's main oil fields, plunder more than 80 percent of the country's oil production, and have smuggled and burned Syria's grain stock, causing the humanitarian crisis there, the spokesperson said.

In the wake of the devastating earthquakes, the United States should remove its geopolitical obsession, immediately lift unilateral sanctions on Syria and open the door for humanitarian aid, Mao said.