CRI听力:China Stresses Political Solution to Syria Crisis

Wang Yi made the comments while meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Montreux.

The conference jointly initiated by the US and Russia aims to establish a transitional governing body in Syria to lead the country out of the conflict that broke out in March 2011.

Wang Yi says the most pressing task for the international community now is to broker an immediate ceasefire.

The Chinese foreign minister rolled out a five-point proposal ahead of the meetings, calling for a political solution to the conflict.

For his part, Lavrov says the situation in Syria is "very complicated", adding the only way out of the crisis is to bring the warring sides to the negotiating table.

Lavrov also says Russia and China share the same stance on a political solution to the Syria conflict.

Meantime, delegations from both the Syrian government and the opposition are now in Switzerland in their first face-to-face dialogue since the breakout of the conflict.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi says the government will not walk away from talks with the opposition.

"Optimism is the thing that made the government of the Syrian Arab Republic send its delegation here. If we were pessimistic, we would not come. For three years, Syria has been fighting and it has to be optimistic and not pessimistic."

Observers call the meeting is a crucial opportunity for finding a solution to the crisis.

Riccardo Bocco is professor of Political Sociology with the Graduate Institute of International Development Studies in Geneva.

"The 40 invited countries will stress the need to the opposing parties to reach an agreement about a transition, but there will be not direct negotiations. And those two days are very important, because those 40 countries represent almost half of the donor countries to Syria."

Some observers, including Alexander van der Haven, research fellow at Webster University, are optimistic about the result of the meetings.

"I think everyone would like to see an agreement from members, certain members of the government and certain members of the opposition, to try and find a road map, a track towards stability and peace in Syria. And I think that those people who would come to the negotiating tables with this openness and with this in mind will probably receive a lot of support and attention from the international community."

35 countries have been invited to attend the meetings.

The United Nations withdrew its invitation to Iran after the Iranian side refused to endorse the consensus created during the first meeting in Geneva in 2012.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi.