Senior Chinese Diplomat Yang To Represent Beijing At Berlin Conference On Libya

Faizan Hashmi Published January 17, 2020 | 05:05 PM

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will represent Beijing at the upcoming conference on the Libyan crisis settlement in Berlin, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said on Friday

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2020) Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will represent Beijing at the upcoming conference on the Libyan crisis settlement in Berlin, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said on Friday.

"At the invitation of Germany, Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, will take part in the Berlin conference on Libya as the special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping," Geng said at a briefing.

On Sunday, the German capital will host a UN-led conference on Libya with the participation of Egypt, Russia, the United States and Turkey, among other countries.

Both Fayez Sarraj, the head of the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the rival Libyan National Army (LNA), are expected to attend the event.

Libya is currently in the midst of a civil war between two rival administrations � the internationally recognized GNA, based in Tripoli to the west, and the LNA-supported elected parliament in the east. Over the past several weeks, the situation has escalated amid the LNA's advances on Tripoli.

Earlier in January, Russia and Turkey called on Libya's warring parties to end hostilities and mediated talks between Sarraj and Haftar in Moscow on Monday. However, the meeting failed to result in an official ceasefire agreement.