Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Chinese diplomatic visits to both Damascus and Moscow, whether they are planning to meet a representative of the People's Republic of China with a view to finding a solution to the crisis in Syria.

China abstained from the 8 October vote on the Franco-Spanish draft UN Security Council Resolution. China voted in favour of Russia's draft Resolution that day. This Russian text made no demand for an end to the aerial bombardment of Aleppo. On 18 October, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Ellwood) met Chinese Special Representative for Syria, Mr. Xie Xiaoyan. They discussed the recent Security Council vote on the Aleppo humanitarian resolution and future resolutions, including on the use of chemical weapons. Our diplomats in Beijing and New York continue to raise at the highest levels of the Chinese system the importance of UN unity in bringing an end first the bombing and then the civil war, in Syria.