G8 members compare notes on Syria at summit

LOUGH ERNE, United Kingdom - The G8 summit closed on Tuesday amid consensuses, compromises and differences over various issues, in particular the Syria crisis this time.

Whatsoever, all the G8 members hoped the Syria issue could be solved, and British Prime Minister David Cameron, the host of this summit, called on all parties to implement their consensus to help Syria end its domestic conflict.

G8 countries leaders (From top C, clockwise) Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, US President Barack Obama, France's President Francois Hollande, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russia's President Vladimir Putin attend a working session at the Lough Erne golf resort where the G8 summit is taking place in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland June 18, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

COMPROMISE ON SYRIA ISSUE

After the two-day summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, Cameron announced the G8 leaders have reached consensus over pushing the related peace talks on the Syria issue and will press Syria's conflicting sides to join the talks as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the group has decided to add $1.5 billion of humanitarian aid to the war-plagued country.

G8 members condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria by any sides and agreed to help Syria get rid of terrorists and extremists through cooperation.

They support a new international conference on Syria and back establishing a transitional governing body in Syria to govern the country as agreed last year in Geneva, Switzerland.

However, this latest G8 position, or consensus, did not mention Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fate as well as the offer of weapons to the Syrian opposition. It neutrally condemned any side's use of chemical weapons. This showed the USand its six G8 allies failed to reach broad consensus on the issue with Russia.

Avoiding any decisions on these issues was a comprise as Russia pressed.

The G8 consensus stressed its common goal of ending violence in Syria, agreed to bring the conflicting sides in Syria into peace talks with the "maximum diplomatic pressure", and recognized the existence of terrorist and extremist forces in Syria.

This shows that G8 has recognized the importance of a political and diplomatic solution to the current Syria crisis and the Western lineup on the Syria issue was being shaken.

In view of US and European countries' compromise, Russia has to announce its stance on the power handover in Syria. This G8 consensus reaffirmed that the next step is to establish a transitional governing body to realize power change in Syria, with the operation of major institutions in Syria guaranteed to avoid any "power vacuum". That means that a significant number of officials might remain.