Libya FM in China as Beijing talks to rebels

BEIJING: Libya's foreign minister was in China on Tuesday, the government said, after Chinese diplomats held more talks with rebels looking to wrest power from the oil-rich nation's leader Moamer Kadhafi.

The flurry of diplomatic activity seemed to indicate that China -- which has significant economic interests in Libya -- was stepping up its involvement in efforts to defuse the months-long crisis in the north African state.

The Libyan foreign minister, Abdelati al-Obeidi, was to stay in China until Thursday and would meet his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

Chinese diplomats based in Egypt meanwhile have gone to the eastern Libyan rebel-held city of Benghazi "to gain an understanding of the humanitarian situation and the situation for Chinese investing entities", the ministry said.

Hong said the Chinese officials had "made contact" with the head of the National Transitional Council, the leadership body established by opposition forces -- the second confirmation of contact with the rebels in recent days.

China said on Friday that its ambassador to Qatar, Zhang Zhiliang, met recently with the Libyan opposition leader Mustapha Abdul-Jalil, but did not say where the meeting took place and gave few details on the discussions.

When asked whether China was mediating between the two sides, Hong said: "China is working along with the international community to resolve the Libyan crisis politically." "The Libyan issue has drawn worldwide attention and China calls on all relevant parties to cease fire as soon as possible, and resolve the Libyan crisis through political means," the spokesman said. "We believe that the future of Libya will be determined by the Libyan people themselves."

Kadhafi's forces have been embroiled since mid-February in a battle with rebels looking to end his more than four decades in power.

Russia and China -- both veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council -- abstained from the Council vote in March that gave the go-ahead for international military action against Kadhafi's regime.

China has previously spoken of its concerns that the NATO-led bombing in Libya was overstepping a Council resolution authorising "humanitarian" intervention in the conflict and repeatedly called for a ceasefire.

Beijing consistently opposes moves deemed to interfere in the affairs of other countries.
Russia said on Monday that President Dmitry Medvedev's envoy Mikhail Margelov would meet Libyan rebel leaders in Benghazi on Tuesday but would not travel to Tripoli. (AFP)