China Says U.N. Motion 'Would Not Ease' Syria Situation

China said Wednesday a U.N. Security Council resolution it vetoed threatening action against Syria for its deadly crackdown on protests would have "blindly" pressured the Arab nation and not helped.

The comments came after Russia and China blocked a Security Council motion calling for "targeted measures" if Syria's President Bashar Assad pursues his clampdown, which the U.N. says has left at least 2,700 dead.

"Some countries submitted a draft resolution to blindly impose pressure and even threatened sanctions against Syria. This would not help to ease the situation," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement.

The veto prompted outrage from European nations, which had proposed the resolution, and the United States, which said the council had "utterly failed to address an urgent moral challenge".

Nine countries voted for the text but Russia and China voted against, killing the resolution because of their veto power as permanent council members.

South Africa, India, Brazil and Lebanon abstained, reaffirming a divide in the 15-member body since NATO launched air strikes in Libya using U.N. resolutions to claim authorization for the action.

Several opponents sought to justify their positions by raising fears that air strikes could be launched on Syria.

But Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called the comments a "cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people".

Rice called on the council to impose "tough, targeted sanctions" and an arms embargo against Syria.

"The United States is outraged that this council has utterly failed to address an urgent moral challenge and a growing threat to regional peace and security," she said.

America's western allies have joined Washington in imposing sanctions against Syria, but Russia and China have routinely opposed attempts to frame a sanctions regime in the Security Council.

Western governments and human rights watchdogs have expressed mounting criticism of the council's failure to adopt any resolution on Syria, which has since mid-March been shaken by an unprecedented protest movement that Assad has sought to crush with deadly force.

In the latest violence, at least 11 people were shot dead by security forces on Tuesday, including six in the central province of Homs and two in the northwest of the country, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The other three were killed in various centers of protest across the country, the British-based Observatory said.

China has drawn criticism for refusing to condemn Assad's regime. In July, it joined Russia in blocking a proposed U.N. resolution condemning Syria's crackdown.

Once bitter foes, Moscow and Beijing have in recent years ramped up political cooperation, driven by a desire to counterbalance U.S. global dominance.

China, Russia, the United States, Britain and France make up the five veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.