China concerned over further escalation between Hezbollah, Israel

A senior Chinese diplomat, speaking at a UN Security Council emergency session on Lebanon on Friday, said China is deeply concerned about possible further escalation between Israel and Hezbollah and calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint.

Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN, said that China is deeply shocked and concerned about the explosions of thousands of communication devices such as pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon, which caused thousands of casualties.

Fu added that launching indiscriminate attacks through the remote manipulation of communication tools, causing mass civilian casualties and creating social panic, is unheard of.

"Such an act is undoubtedly a grave violation of a country's sovereignty and security, a flagrant violation of international law, especially international humanitarian law, and a disregard for and abuse of human life."

While condemning the attacks, the Chinese diplomat said China calls for a comprehensive and timely investigation into the incidents to hold the planners and perpetrators accountable.

Noting the current situation in the Middle East region is precarious with the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Fu said China in particular calls on Israel to put aside its obsession with the use of force, immediately stop its military operations in the Gaza Strip, immediately stop its violations of Lebanon's sovereignty and security, and immediately stop its risky actions that may drag the region into a new catastrophe.

China strongly urges countries with influence on Israel to take concrete actions to stop Israel from going further down the wrong path and supports the UN Security Council in all necessary actions and making maximum efforts to ease the situation between Lebanon and Israel and maintain peace and stability in the region, Fu added.