According to reports, China’s Foreign Ministry has said that it finds “unacceptable” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s criticism of China at the most recent Friends of Syria meeting. The ministry’s spokesperson Liu Wiemin said that China is not impeding the process of resolving the Syrian crisis. The response followed the third Friends of Syria meeting held on July 6, 2012 in Paris at which Clinton said that Russia and China are “holding up progress” in finding a settlement to the crisis, and that their stances were “no longer tolerable”. Liu added that China’s impartial and constructive stance, and its diplomatic efforts have been widely recognised and supported by the international community, and that any efforts to “blemish” China’s image would “end in vain”. 1 It would be worth noting that China has not attended the three meetings of the group held this year in Tunisia, Turkey and France. 2

In another development, according to reports, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has urged that the international community act more determinedly towards a transition period in Syria without President Bashar al-Assad. He stressed that Turkey has been careful not to intervene in other countries’ internal affairs but the situation in Syria has created tensions for Turkey, especially along its shared border. 3

• 1. “Clinton's criticism of China over Syria "unacceptable" - Foreign Ministry”, Xinhua news agency, July 7, 2012
• 2. “China not to attend Friends of Syria meet in Paris - Foreign Ministry”, Xinhua news agency, July 5, 2012
• 3. “Turkey calls for transition period in Syria without Al-Asad”, Anadolu (also known as Anatolia) news agency, July 7, 2012