GENEVA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese diplomat on Friday said that the UN-led Syria peace talks in Geneva is an important step in the process for a political solution to the Syrian conflict, and the most important thing now is to maintain the peace process in a sustainable manner without disruption or stalling.
Xie Xiaoyan, Chinese government's envoy for the Syrian issue, told Xinhua in an interview that China supports the UN in playing a leading mediation role and is willing to make positive contributions for the talks to achieve concrete results as soon as possible.
"At present, there are still big differences between and among the Syrian government and the oppositions, so a step by step approach should be taken to handle the relatively easier problems first so as to form more consensus and accumulate mutual trust," he noted.
The Chinese envoy, on his fourth trip to Geneva for peace talks on Syria, said that another priority now for the talks is to consolidate the ceasefire on the ground and at the same time achieve some periodical results.
"Negotiation itself is not the purpose, some phase fruits are needed to give confidence to both sides of the negotiations and to the regional and international community," he said.
According to the Chinese envoy, it is also important to adhere to the principle of self-determination in the political process of the Syrian issue, that is, to let the Syrian people to decide their own future.
Arriving here in Geneva earlier this week, Xie held meetings with the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, both the Syrian government and opposition delegations as well as senior diplomats from other regional and international powers.
The new round of the Intra-Syrian Talks kicked off here on July 10, which UN officials said was aimed at simplifying peace negotiations to wind down the nearly seven-year civil war.
The last UN-led talks aimed at brokering a political solution between Syrian warring factions ended on May 19 without going deeper into the scheduled topics.
Since the war in Syria broke out in March 2011, the crisis has claimed more than 320,000 lives and displaced millions, the UN estimated.
