China urges fair probe of plane crash

CARACAS - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that Beijing welcomes the just passed UN resolution on the recent crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine.

Wang, who is accompanying Chinese President Xi Jinping in an ongoing Latin America tour, made the comments shortly after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding safe and unrestricted access of international experts to the crash site.

The resolution is in line with China's consistent position that an independent, fair and objective international probe be carried out to find out the truth, said the minister, noting that China played a constructive role in the deliberations and unanimous passage of the resolution.

Stressing that the tragedy, which claimed 298 lives, should not be repeated, Wand said the current priority is to implement the resolution, especially to give international investigators full access to the crash site.

The International Civil Aviation Organization should be allowed to play a key role in the investigation and its professional expertise be brought into full play, he said.

Before the result is produced, he stressed, all parties concerned should refrain from making conjectures and prejudgment and, more importantly, avoid politicizing the issue.

The crash further suggests that an early settlement of the Ukraine crisis is the fundamental way to maintain regional peace and stability, Wang said.

"We urged all Ukrainian parties concerned to cease fire as soon as possible and conduct dialogue and consultation so as to seek a comprehensive, lasting and balanced political solution," Wang said.