China involved in Syrian weapons work

BEIJING, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The Chinese government is providing direct support to a U.N. inspection team surveying chemical weapons in Syria, a spokesman said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Beijing was in direct consultations with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The OPCW is surveying a chemical weapons disclosure list delivered last month by the Syrian government.

The OPCW said its inspectors are now in Syria to dismantle the weapons. The organization, which has headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, said last week it agreed to work to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal by the middle of next year.

Lei said Monday the Chinese government sent its own inspectors to join the OPCW.

"China will provide financial aid in this regard," he was quoted by China's official Xinhua News Agency as saying.

China was among the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council opposing preliminary draft resolutions that would censure the Syrian government for its actions during civil war. The Security Council, however, backed the OPCW's mission last week.

Xinhua reports a Syrian employee at the Chinese Embassy in Damascus was injured when a mortar shell struck the compound Monday. Some windows were shattered but the compound escaped major damage.