BEIJING: China expressed concern Tuesday over shots fired from Syria into a refugee camp in Turkey, an action Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called a "clear violation" of the border.
The comment, by a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, came as Erdogan was in Beijing on the first official visit to China by a Turkish premier in 27 years.
On the Turkish border Monday, shots fired from inside Syria wounded four Syrians and two Turkish staff working at a refugee camp in the first case of Syrian fire hitting people on Turkish soil.
The incident angered Ankara on the eve of a visit by international envoy Kofi Annan to the refugee camps along the border, while Washington said it condemned attacks on Syrian refugees in bordering countries.
"It was a very clear violation of the border," Erdogan told reporters in Beijing. "Obviously we will take the necessary measures," he was quoted as saying by the Turkish news agency Anatolia.
The foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, also repeated a call for Syria to honour its commitments of a cease fire and withdrawal of troops by Tuesday.
The Syrian army was scheduled to withdraw from protest cities on Tuesday under a peace deal brokered by former UN chief Kofi Annan, with a complete end to fighting set for 48 hours later.
But the Damascus regime has since said it would only carry out its side of the bargain if rebels first handed over written guarantees to stop fighting, a demand rejected by rebel army chief Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad.
China gave its seal of approval to the Annan deal late last month after drawing international criticism for vetoing two UN Security Council resolutions on the crisis in Syria.
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