US wants India, China to take steps against Syria

Washington, Aug 12 (PTI) Seeking wider global action
against Syria for its violent crackdown on anti-regime
protesters, the US has said it wants India and China, which
have large energy investments in that country, to take steps
against it by imposing sanctions.
"We've issued more sanctions, tougher sanctions. We're
working with our European and other friends. But what we
really need to do to put the pressure on (President Bashar
a Assad is to sanction the oil and gas industry, and we
want to see Europe take more steps in that direction,"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
"We want to see China take steps with us. We want to see
India, because India and China have large energy investments
inside of Syria. We want to see Russia cease selling arms to
the Assad regime," she told the CBS Evening News.
This is for the first time that the United States has
gone public in asking India to take steps against the Syrian
regime by imposing bilateral sanctions on it.
Clinton acknowledged that because of limited economic
relations, the US has very little stake in it. "We have such a
small stake in what they produce and what they market. The
real trick is to convince the Europeans and the Arabs and the
Chinese and the Indians and others," she said.
"We're going to sanction, and we have been upping the
sanctions. We're going to continue to do so. But we want
others to follow, because Syria was not one of our major
economic partners.
"It wasn't anybody that we had a particularly good
relationship with before this all started, although we were
open to improving the relationship if they showed that they
were going to make changes. And obviously, that's not in the
cards right now," she said.

Clinton said the Obama administration has been very clear
in saying that the Assad regime has lost its legitimacy. "I
think we were among the very first to say it. We've sent a
very clear message that he should be doing what is necessary
to end the violence against his own people," she said.
"But it's important that it's not just the American
voice, and we want to make sure that those voices are coming
from around the world. And the Russians and the Chinese joined
our presidential statement, after saying that they would never
do anything to condemn the Assad regime," she said.
"I come from the school that we want results, not
rhetoric. And what we have done for the last several months is
– behind the scenes and in front of the cameras – to build the
pressure on Assad and the people around him," she said.
"There's no doubt in anyone's mind where the United
States stands. We've reached out to the opposition, we have
been very proud of our Ambassador, who has carried the message
of our country and our values right into Hama, into the heart
of the Syrian repression. So I think we have done what is
actually going to pay off rather than just rhetorically
calling for him to go," Clinton said.