BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Thursday urged participants in Syrian peace talks to show goodwill, after a United Nations envoy halted his attempts to conduct them after Syria's army, backed by Russian air strikes, advanced against rebel forces north of Aleppo.
Staffan de Mistura announced on Wednesday a three-week pause in the Geneva talks, the first attempt to negotiate an end to Syria's war in two years, saying they needed immediate help from the rival sides' international backers, principally the United States and Russia.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said peace talks were never going to be easy, but China had always believed they were the only way to ultimately resolve the Syria issue.
All parties should work hard and maintain the momentum for the talks, he told a daily news briefing.
"We really hope that all parties involved in the peace talks can proactively take confidence-building measures, show goodwill, meet each other halfway and cooperate with the mediation efforts of the U.N. special envoy," Lu added.
China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has repeatedly called for a negotiated settlement to the Syrian crisis.
While relying on the region for oil supplies, China tends to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy to the other permanent members of the Security Council, namely the United States, Britain, France and Russia.
But Beijing has been trying to get more involved, including recently hosting both Syria's foreign minister and opposition figures, although at different times.
(Corrects wording to "goodwill" not "sincerity", paragraphs one and five)