China: These Libyan airstrikes are a "humanitarian disaster"

The Chinese media has been more vociferous in expressing opposition to the military campaign against the Libyan government, with articles and commentaries depicting the American-led assault as an attempt to grab that country’s oil resources and expand American influence in the region.

A front page article in People’s Daily on Tuesday said the United Nations resolution characterizing the Libyan army’s attack on civilians as a possible “crime against humanity” was simply cover for what it called the West’s hegemonic intentions. “Historical experience has shown that humanitarian intervention is only an excuse for military intervention into other countries domestic affairs,” wrote the author, Tang Zhichao, a scholar at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations. “They claim to be motivated by morality but in fact they are driven by narrow political and economic interests.”