China opens door to Syrian opposition China has held talks with Syrian opposition representatives in a sign that it has begun hedging its bets on the latest Arab country shaken by unrest. A delegation from the Syrian National Committee for Democratic Change wrapped up a four-day visit to Beijing on Thursday, during which it met Zhai Jun, deputy foreign minister, and other senior diplomats, a foreign ministry spokesman said. Beijing has been struggling since last weekend to justify its role, with Russia, in blocking a United Nations resolution that urged Bashar-al-Assad, the Syrian president, to step down amid mounting bloodshed, as security forces clashed with opponents of the regime. The veto triggered fierce criticism, not just in the west but also in the Arab world. The Syrian opposition delegation was led by Hassan Mana, a Paris-based representative of the National Committee, one of Syria's two largest opposition groups, abroad. The meetings mirror China's attempts during the Libya crisis last year to open negotiations with both sides in the conflict, long after many other countries had dropped their support for the Gaddafi regime. Beijing's talks with the Syrian opposition group follow an announcement this week that China was considering sending envoys to Damascus to push for an end to the violence which has claimed more than 300 lives in recent days in the city of Homs. Xinhua, the official news agency, said on Thursday that western criticism of Beijing's decision to veto the UN vote had "viciously distorted" China's intention. "China's veto does not mean the country is blindly giving support to the Syrian government," it said in an editorial. The Syrian government, has to speed up efforts to accommodate its people's legitimate aspirations. Amid continuing violence, wide ranging political and economic reform is the only solution to the 11-month crisis. Beijing argues that by blocking the resolution, it hoped to avoid a repetition of events in Libya, where it says one-sided western military intervention prolonged the conflict. Any such solution clashes with China's longstanding doctrine of non-interference in other countries" internal affairs. But Chinese foreign-affairs experts are pondering how Beijing could adjust this principle, as it has been frequently challenged by the Arab Spring. Beijing is aware that its stubborn support of authoritarian regimes in the face of popular protests risks undermining its standing in a region which is crucial to its resource and energy needs, as underlined on Tuesday when demonstrators attacked the Chinese embassy in Tripoli, the Libyan capital. A delegation from the Chinese Commerce Ministry visited Libya this week to assess damage to Chinese projects during the months-long conflict last year and explore how Chinese companies could restart operations and help with reconstruction. But the visit met with difficulties. A delegation member said that Beijing wanted certain security guarantees for Chinese companies, which Tripoli was not able to give.