Russia and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, have vetoed a draft resolution to refer the Syrian civil war to the International Criminal Court.
The draft resolution was proposed by France and received 13 votes in favor and two against.
Wang Min, the deputy Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations.
"Under the current circumstances, to forcibly refer the situation in Syria to the ICC is neither conducive to building trust among all parties in Syria, or to the early resumption of the negotiations in Geneva. It will only jeopardize the efforts made by the international community to push forward a political settlement."
The official notes that the very urgent issue now is to urge the government of Syria and the opposition to immediately start a ceasefire, and to resume the third round of the Geneva negotiations.
Syria is not a state party to the Rome Statute which established the ICC, so the only way the Middle East country can be referred to The Hague-based tribunal is by the Security Council.
The vote came just days before international Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi is to step down, on May 31.
