China has appointed a career diplomat and former ambassador to Iran as a special envoy for the Syrian crisis, China's foreign ministry announced on Tuesday.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told a news briefing on Tuesday that the new special envoy for Syria is Xie Xiaoyan, who was most recently China's ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union.
China has been making efforts to push for a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis, and Hong has said that a political solution is the "only way out."
"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has been making positive and constructive efforts to push for a proper settlement of the Syrian issue," Hong said.
In recent months, China has hosted high-level delegations from both the Syrian government and the opposition at different times.
Hong reiterated that China supports the mediation efforts of the UN's special Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura and has provided humanitarian assistance to the region.
The appointment of Xie is intended to help push the peace process and "to better proactively put forward China's -wisdom" and its proposals, Hong said.
Xie, 62, is a veteran diplomat with a wealth of experience with the Middle East, Hong said. "We believe he will certainly fulfill this mission well."
A cease-fire accepted by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and most of his foes is currently in place in -Syria, though it does not apply to areas held by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group or Al Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda.
The cessation of hostilities is the first of its kind since the civil war began five years ago and has also been accompanied by the first peace talks attended by the warring sides.
In November 2015, IS - which holds large swathes of Syrian territory - said it killed a Chinese hostage named Fan Jinghui and published graphic images of his body.
The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed Fan's "inhuman" killing and vowed to bring his murderers to justice.
