Syrian president special envoy to visit China

BEIJING - The Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Syrian president special envoy Bouthaina Shaaban is to visit China on Tuesday.

During the visit, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will hold talks with Shaaban, who is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's political and media advisor, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a written reply to a reporter's question.

"Meanwhile, China is also considering inviting members of the Syrian opposition groups to visit," Qin added.

Qin said China has always actively promoted its work between the Syrian government and the opposition in a balanced way to achieve a political solution to the Syria issue.

The spokesman noted China has been urging the two sides to substantially implement the six-point peace plan proposed by the UN-AL joint envoy Kofi Annan, the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the Geneva communique agreed by the Action Group meeting of major world powers on June 30.

China urges both sides to cease fire immediately, protect civilians and resolve the crisis through political dialogue, the spokesman said.

"The Arrangement of Shaaban's visit is part of the work mentioned above", Qin said.