GENEVA - A senior Chinese diplomat on Wednesday welcomed the upcoming peace talks on Syria in Geneva and stressed the role of the United Nations in the mediation to end the lasting conflict in the war-torn country.

The Chinese government's Special Envoy on Syria, Xie Xiaoyan, on Wednesday met with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. They exchanged views on the forthcoming intra-Syria talks and the Syrian political process.

"The resumption of the peace talks on Syria should strictly follow the requirements of the UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and put efforts on promoting mutual trust so as to achieve progresses as soon as possible," Xie said.

He told the UN envoy that China hopes the representatives of the Syrian opposition team will include more parties and have a broad representation, and China is willing to cooperate closely with the relevant parties of the international community for a political solution in Syria.

De Mistura said that the resumption of the Geneva peace talks is an important step.

"It might not be the right time for an agreement, but it is the right time for talks," he said after the meeting.

Constructive role

The UN Envoy added that China has been vigorously playing a positive and constructive role in the Syrian peace process.

The latest round of UN-mediated peace talks on Syria was scheduled to be held on Thursday in Geneva.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing on Thursday that China hopes that the Syrian government and the opposition will further defuse differences, accumulate mutual trust and achieve sound agreement through talks.

"Recently, the momentum to push for a political solution for the Syrian issue keeps becoming stronger in the international community. It's a common wish of the international community to maintain such a positive momentum," he said.

China hopes that the Syrian government and the opposition will further defuse differences, accumulate mutual trust and achieve sound agreement through the talks, so that peace will return to Syrian people at an early date, Geng said.

The last time Syria's warring parties convened in Geneva was in April, a month which saw talks being put on hold amid a humanitarian meltdown and systemic violence in the Middle East country.