China blames West for UN discord on Syrian war

BEIJING — China has accused some Western countries of seeking regime change in Syria and blamed their increasing support for rebel forces in the civil war there as hurting the solidarity of the U.N. Security Council.

Wednesday's remarks in the official People's Daily come as China hosts an envoy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The newspaper repeated China's position that the only solution to the Syrian crisis is a political one. It said some Western countries' open discussion of a no-fly zone has caused the international community to be unable to reach consensus on how to respond to the crisis.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday that Washington hopes China will encourage the Assad regime to end the violence and comply with outgoing U.N. peace envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.