Beijing: China said Monday that Libya’s opposition leader would visit this week, further boosting Beijing’s engagement in the North African country’s civil war and dealing another setback to Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.China’s Foreign Ministry said in a one-sentence statement posted on its website that Mustafa Abdel-Jalil would be in China on Tuesday and Wednesday.
No other details were immediately available.Abdel-Jalil chairs the Transitional National Council, the umbrella organization of rebel groups trying to unseat Qaddafi.China stayed on the sidelines for the first few months after the revolt against Qaddafi’s government erupted in mid-February, but it has recently stepped up efforts to persuade the two sides to seek a settlement.Chinese diplomats in Qatar met with Abdel-Jalil earlier this month, and Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi was dispatched to Beijing days later in an apparent attempt to reassert the Libyan government’s influence.
Beijing has pointedly avoided joining international calls for Qaddafi to step down, saying that is for the Libyan people to decide.
It also abstained in the UN Security Council vote authorizing the use of force against Libyan government loyalists and has repeatedly criticized the NATO bombing campaign in support of the rebels.When fighting erupted in Libya, China dispatched military transport planes and arranged chartered boats to evacuate an estimated 30,000 Chinese working there, mostly in the construction and oil industries, comprising one of the largest blocs of foreign laborers.
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