China calls for peaceful solution to Libya crisis
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Li Baodong, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, on Wednesday called for the respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity in Libya and a peaceful solution to the current crisis in the North African country through dialogue.
The statement came as Li, who holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for March, was briefing the reporters on the work program of the 15-nation UN body in this month.
"The Council will monitor the situation in Libya very closely and the situation there is very troublesome," Li said. "The security, the peace, the stability of that country definitely has an impact on the region. So that is why I think the Council will follow that issue very closely and we will have further discussion, it just depends on how the situation is unfolding in that country. "
"We are very concerned about the situation in Libya," he said. "We believe that three principles should be observed: one we respect the sovereignty, the independence and the territorial integrity of Libya. This is the first principle."
"The second principle is we believe that the political crisis should be resolved through peaceful means such as dialogue," he said. "The Libyan people, the safety, the rights of the Libyan people, foreign nationals should be protected."
"Thirdly, we believe it is very very important as I said, the situation in Libya has tremendous impact on the region," he said. "So I think the UN Security Council, the international community should heed and respect the opinions and positions of Arab countries and African countries."
Asked about any possible UN action of the proposed no-fly zone over Libya, Li said, "I think that idea is floating around in the lobby and different countries have different opinions on that, but so far I haven't heard anything yet officially."
"Nobody has presented that proposal to the Security Council to be addressed yet," he added.
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