Paris - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged
world powers on Friday to show Russia and China they would pay a price
for impeding progress toward a democratic transition in Syria.
"It
is frankly not enough just to come to the Friends of the Syrian People
[meeting] because I will tell you very frankly, I don't think Russia and
China believe they are paying any price at all - nothing at all - for
standing up on behalf of the Assad regime," Clinton said at a gathering
of countries seeking to speed the departure of Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad.
"The only way that will change is if every nation
represented here directly and urgently makes it clear that Russia and
China will pay a price because they are holding up progress - blockading
it – [and] that is no longer tolerable."
Russia and China have
in the past vetoed UN Security Council resolutions designed to pressure
Assad, who has sought to crush a rebellion against his family's 42-year
rule.
In her comments, Clinton repeated the US call for a
Security Council resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which
allows the council to authorise actions ranging from diplomatic and
economic sanctions to military intervention.
US officials have repeatedly said in the case of Syria they are talking about sanctions and not military intervention.
"We
should go back and ask for a resolution in the Security Council that
imposes real and immediate consequences for noncompliance, including
sanctions under Chapter 7," Clinton said. She also called for countries
to better enforce existing bilateral sanctions on Syria.
"Let me
also add that confronted with the regime's noncompliance, it is
difficult to imagine how the UN supervision mission can fulfil its
responsibilities without a Chapter 7 enforcement mechanism," she said.
"It is clear unarmed observers cannot monitor a ceasefire that does not
exist."