China regrets the multinational military strike launched against Libya, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
"China has noticed the latest development in Libya and regrets the military strike against Libya," Jiang Yu said, adding that China did not agree with resorting to force in international relations.
"China believes that the tenet and principles of the United Nations Charter and relevant international laws should be adhered to, and Libya's sovereignty, independence, unification and territory integrity should be respected," Xinhua news agency quoted her as saying.
"We hope stability could be restored in Libya as soon as possible so as to avoid more civilian casualties caused by the escalation of military conflicts," she said.
The military operation against the Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi who has ruled the country with an iron fist for more than 40 years began on Saturday, involving the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.
On Saturday, Moscow also expressed its regret over the multilateral military attack on Libya, which it said was being conducted "with reference to the hastily adopted UN Security Council resolution.
The new UN Security Council resolution on Libya was adopted on Thursday; it encompasses a no-fly zone and "all necessary measures" against forces loyal to Gaddafi.
The air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition of international forces are targeting air defense sites along the Libyan coast. The sites are located around the Libyan capital Tripoli and the western region of Misrata.
The U.S. Pentagon reported that a U.S. warship fired 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Gaddafi's air defense sites. The U.S. operation is named "Odyssey Dawn".
Libyan television reported citing military officials that at least 50 civilians were killed and over 150 wounded in military attacks of the coalition forces, adding that many health and education facilities were ruined.
BEIJING, March 20 (RIA Novosti)
