The Chinese government's Special Envoy on Syria, Xie Xiaoyan, reaffirmed on Wednesday the importance of upcoming peace talks seeking to broker a political end to the Syrian conflict.
"Everybody knows that the peace process is a long process and that peace cannot be achieved overnight," Xie Xiaoyan told reporters ahead of the fifth round of talks which are slated for Thursday.
"But if the parties continue to move in right direction, there is light at the end of the tunnel," he added.
While lauding the progress made in the last round of negotiations which yielded a tangible agenda for future discussions, Xie reminded that only a political settlement can end the crisis which has killed over 310,000 people and displaced millions of others.
He also said that rival delegations involved in peace talks should hold continued dialogues and that they should prioritize issues that have some degree of consensus.
The fifth round of talks will focus on governance, constitutional issues, elections and counter terrorism, security and confidence building measures.
Xie reminded that the upkeep of a ceasefire in place since December last year, which was monitored by parallel talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana, was key to give discussions the best chance of success.
Referring to the outcome of the last round of negotiations which ended earlier this month, as well as continued efforts to maintain the truce in the war-torn country, Xie believed that "these are important steps forward", adding that they have "laid good foundations for the political process".
He also stressed that China fully supports the UN's role as the main channel seeking to broker a political end to the over six-year conflict, and that he remained hopeful that a settlement can eventually be achieved.
"I've always been an optimist, as a Chinese. I think that we need patience, we need creative minds, and we need confidence no matter how complicated the matter is," he said.
"I think that the mere fact that the fifth round is planned and is going ahead is progress in itself," he added.
