China intensifies condemnation of Libya air strikes

China’s top newspaper on Monday stepped up Beijing's opposition to Western air attacks on Libya, accusing countries backing the strikes of violating international rules and risking fresh turmoil in the Middle East.                   
 
China’s strongest condemnation yet of Western air assaults on the forces of Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi appeared in the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, and it showed how the military conflict could become a fresh front of contention between Beijing and Washington.
                                          
The paper used barely veiled words to accuse the United States and its allies of violating international rules, although China refrained from blocking the United Nations Security Council resolution that effectively authorised the air attacks.       

The paper likened the assault on Libyan sites to the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and suggested it followed a pattern of Western overreaching in other countries' affairs.                                           
"The blood-soaked tempests that Iraq has undergone for eight years and the unspeakable suffering of its people are a mirror and a warning," said the commentary in the People''s Daily.         

"The military attacks on Libya are, following on the Afghan and Iraq wars, the third time that some countries have launched armed action against sovereign countries," it said in a reference to the United States and its allies.          

"It should be seen that every time military means are used to address crises that is a blow to the United Nations Charter and the rules of international relations."          

The commentary appeared under the name of "Zhong Sheng", a penname that in Chinese sounds like "Voice of the Centre," suggesting that it is voicing top-level government opinion.           

China's growing criticism of the Western air assaults on Libya has laid bare the quandaries facing Beijing in the Middle East. The Middle East is an increasingly important source of oil for energy-hungry China. On the weekend, Saudi Arabia's Aramco announced its latest project proposal to supply crude to a refinery in the southwest of China, where Beijing is building an oil pipeline that slices through Myanmar.                  

About half of China's crude imports last year came from the Middle East and North Africa. China wants to diversify supplies, but Arab countries and Iran hold so much of global reserves that they are sure to remain major suppliers.                                           

On Saturday, Libya's top oil official said Tripoli was considering offering oil block contracts directly to China, India and other nations it sees as friends in its month-long conflict with rebels.

At the same time, Beijing has had relatively limited diplomatic sway in the Middle East, and no major military role. Instead, it has tended to bow, sometimes begrudgingly, to Western demands, while pursuing its commercial and energy interests.                                                                               
China's handling of Libya reflects that awkward balance: both accommodating and criticising Western demands. China, which holds the rotating chair of the UN Security Council, last week held back from blocking the resolution authorising a no-fly zone over Libya, as well as military action to enforce that zone. It cited the calls of Arab countries for prompt UN action.

But Beijing immediately began voicing "serious reservations" about that resolution. The People’s Daily commentary again urged other nations to do more to seek a peaceful solution to the clash between Gaddafi and rebel forces.   

"People have good reason to express misgivings about the consequences that this military action may precipitate," it said.          

Russia, which also abstained on the resolution, called on Britain, France and the United States at the weekend to stop the air strikes, describing them as "non-selective use of force" against non-military targets.