China warns against military action, Trump pledges ‘forceful’ US response

FE Team | Published: April 10, 2018 21:21:57

Donald Trump

BEIJING, Apr 10 (AFP): China on Tuesday warned against military action in Syria after US President Donald Trump vowed to respond "forcefully" to the latest alleged chemical atrocity in the country's bloody civil war.
As he opened a cabinet meeting at the White House on Monday, Trump pledged "major decisions" to come within the "next 24-48 hours" after what he called a "heinous attack on innocent" Syrians in the rebel-held town of Douma that killed at least 40 people.
The Syrian regime and its ally Russia have rejected claims of a chemical attack, with President Vladimir Putin warning against any "provocation and speculation on this matter".
Trump-who last year launched a missile strike on a Syrian regime air base after another alleged chemical attack-warned Sunday that there would be a "big price to pay".
The crisis was discussed Monday at an urgent UN Security Council meeting, while the US also circulated a draft resolution for a new independent inquiry of chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
At a regular press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said his country was "opposed to the wanton use of force or threat of force".
Before a "comprehensive, impartial and objective investigation" had been conducted into the incident, no party should "prejudge the results and come to conclusions randomly," he said.
"Military means will lead us nowhere."
China depends on the Middle East for its oil supplies but has long taken a back seat in the region's disputes, only recently beginning to expand its role, hosting high-level delegations from both the Syrian government and the opposition.
It consistently says the crisis needs a "political solution" but has numerous times vetoed UN Security Council measures aimed at addressing the conflict-including an investigation of war crimes in the country.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has promised a "forceful" response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria, as Western leaders consider what action to take.
"We have a lot of options militarily," he told reporters. He added that a response would be decided "shortly".
Mr Trump said the US was getting some "good clarity" on who was responsible for the incident in Douma on Saturday.
Medical sources say dozens were killed in the alleged attack but exact numbers are impossible to verify.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed those behind the killings of civilians in the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta would pay a "heavy price", after an alleged chemical assault killed dozens.
"I curse those who carried out this massacre. Whoever has done this, the perpetrators will be brought to account and certainly pay a heavy price," Erdogan told a meeting of his party in parliament.