China News Service, Beijing, July 20 (Reporter Liang Xiaohui and Guo Chaokai) Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin hosted a regular press conference on July 20.
A reporter asked: According to reports, the US military has stolen oil from the occupied Syrian oil well and shipped it to northern Iraq. This is the third such incident this month.
Syria's Oil and Mineral Resources Minister Bassam Tomei previously criticized the United States and its allies "like pirates" stealing Syria's oil and food, seriously damaging the Syrian economy.
What is China's comment?
Wang Wenbin: I have noticed relevant reports.
What the U.S. has done is robbery.
Currently, 90% of Syria's population lives below the poverty line, two-thirds of the population relies on humanitarian aid for their livelihoods, and more than half of the population cannot receive food security.
The U.S. military still occupies the main grain- and oil-producing areas in Syria, looting and plundering Syrian national resources, making the local humanitarian crisis worse.
Some angry Syrians said that the United States came for its own interests and left without it. Their presence in Syria itself is a manifestation of terrorism.
The US has always advocated the highest standards in human rights and the rule of law.
But what the U.S. has done in Syria shows that the U.S. fails to uphold human rights or the rule of law.
The US should respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, respond to the voice of the Syrian people, immediately lift unilateral sanctions on Syria, immediately stop plundering Syria's national resources, give the Syrian people an explanation as soon as possible, and make up for the harm caused to the Syrian people with concrete actions.
(Finish)