Chinese envoy calls for efforts to seek immediate ceasefire in Mideast

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Developments over the past few days in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have amply demonstrated that an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire must be the overriding priority, said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, on Wednesday.

As long as the war continues, more violations of international humanitarian law are inevitable. Without a comprehensive ceasefire, any amount of humanitarian assistance will be a drop in the bucket, said Zhang at an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Security Council bears the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. In the face of the continuous spread of conflict and the increasingly imminent humanitarian disaster, the Security Council has no reason to remain silent and no excuse to delay action further. China does not agree with the claim that the Security Council's actions will interfere with the ongoing diplomatic efforts. Although the draft resolutions proposed by Russia and Brazil have not been adopted, the Security Council cannot stop at this, said Zhang.