Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the comments during his regular press conference on Wdnesday July 20, 2022 and in response to the question "Beijing Daily: According to reports, US occupying forces have recently again smuggled stolen oil from Syria into northern Iraq, the third time in this month alone. Do you have any comment?"
Wang Wenbin said in response, "As we speak, 90 percent of the Syrian population are living below the poverty line, two thirds rely on humanitarian assistance, and over half are food insecure. The US troops still occupy Syria’s principal oil fields and wheat-producing breadbasket regions. US army’s plunder of Syrian resources has aggravated the humanitarian crisis on the ground. Some angry Syrians have complained that the US came for profit and would leave when all profit is gone. They say the US presence in Syria itself is a type of terrorism."
The spokesman added "The US claims to hold the highest bar on human rights and rule of law. But what it did in Syria is clear evidence that the US isn’t even up to par on these two fronts. The US must respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respond to the appeal of the Syrian people, lift at once unilateral sanctions on Syria, immediately stop plundering Syria’s national resources, and take real actions to remedy the harm it has inflicted on the Syrian people."
MNA/PR