A senior Chinese diplomat reiterated the appeal on Wednesday for external armed forces and mercenaries to withdraw from Libya as soon as possible.

The peaceful reconstruction of Libya is now at a critical stage, and the promotion of political transition is an important cornerstone for ensuring its long-term peace and stability, said Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, in remarks at the Security Council briefing on the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

Dai called for strengthening dialogue and consultation to break the political impasse in Libya. He addressed the recent developments in the country, including the efforts to advance local elections and the consensus reached on the appointment of a new central bank governor, calling on all parties to continue to adhere to the general direction of a political settlement, strengthen dialogue and consultation, and garner more consensus on the early resumption of political negotiations and establishing unified state institutions.

The ambassador called on the international community to continue to support efforts to seek African solutions to African problems and promote a political settlement to the Libyan issue. "We call for the respect for the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Libya, and reiterate our appeal that external armed forces and mercenaries be withdrawn from Libya as soon as possible in a smooth and orderly manner."

He also called for easing antagonism and confrontation, and maintaining security and stability; and focusing on humanitarian challenges and improving people's livelihood in Libya.

Noting that Libya has experienced a long period of civil war and conflict with a seriously divided security structure, and some of the recent unilateral actions have worsened the fragile security situation, the ambassador called on all Libyan parties to put the interest of the country and the people first, remain rational and restraint, continue to strictly comply with the ceasefire agreement, implement the consensus of the 5+5 joint military commission, and work together to safeguard the hard-won detente.

Dai urged the international community to continue to provide support to Libya in strengthening counter-terrorism efforts and maintaining border security, and to scale up humanitarian assistance and provide more constructive support for its development and rebuilding.

He said China supports Libya to utilize its oil resources well and use oil revenues to improve people's well-beings, and called on the Security Council to pay effective attention to the concerns of the Libyan authorities regarding frozen assets abroad and work out a solution as soon as possible to protect Libyan people from losing their wealth.

"China supports UNSMIL to play its due role in mediating the Libyan issue and make greater effort to advance political transition and achieve lasting peace in Libya," he said.