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by Staff Writers Beijing (AFP) March 28, 2012 China on Wednesday urged Damascus to honour its "commitments" after the regime accepted a proposal crafted by Kofi Annan that pushed for an end to Syria's year-long bloody conflict. The United Nations and Arab League special envoy said during a visit to Beijing on Tuesday that the government of President Bashar al-Assad had accepted his six-point plan, a move cautiously welcomed by Western nations. China's foreign ministry said Annan's visit, during which he held talks with Premier Wen Jiabao on the crisis in Syria, had been a "complete success", pledging Beijing's continued support for the peace envoy's work. "China will continue to actively coordinate with and support Mr Annan's mediation efforts and hopes the international community will create enabling conditions for that," spokesman Hong Lei told journalists at a regular briefing. "We are happy to see the Syrian government has accepted the six-point proposal of special envoy Annan, and believe it will be conducive to the political settlement of the Syrian issue. "We hope the Syrian government and relevant parties in Syria will honour their commitments." Annan's plan calls for a commitment to stop all armed violence, a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire and media access to all areas affected by the fighting in Syria, which has killed almost 10,000 people. It also calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process, a right to demonstrate, and the release of people detained arbitrarily. The proposal -- put to Assad by Annan during his visit to Damascus on March 10 and 11 -- was endorsed by the UN Security Council on March 21. Syria's opposition factions, which agreed late Tuesday to name the Syrian National Council as their representative, have called on Assad to pull back his tanks to show he is serious about peace. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, urged Syria to back up its commitment with action and vowed to push the opposition for a clear idea of what they are working for when she attended a meeting in Turkey this weekend. The second Friends of Syria conference -- which brings together senior Arab and Western diplomats as well as representatives of the Syrian opposition -- is due to be held in Istanbul on April 1. Russia, which with China has drawn international criticism for vetoing two UN Security Council resolutions on the crisis in Syria, has already said it will not attend for the second time running. And China on Wednesday also indicated it would not send a representative to the conference. "Under the current circumstances, China does not envisage participating in the meeting," the foreign ministry said.
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