BEIJING: China has warned the United States against air strikes on Syria and hinted that it would veto any such move at the Security Council.

"External military intervention contravenes the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the basic norms of international relations, and will add to the turmoil in the Middle East," said foreign minister Wang Yi on Thursday.

In a statement published in the foreign ministry's website, Wang said, "China calls on all parties concerned to exercise restraint and calmness, adhering to the right track of political solution."

Chinese government experts suggested that the Syrian government may not have used chemical weapons as alleged by the US. They pointed at errors made by US intelligence when it said Iraq possessed nuclear weapons in 2003 before invading it, and later found there was none.

"Who used the chemical weapons in Syria isn't clear," said Li Wei, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Security and Arms Control Studies on Thursday.

The Chinese official media also drummed up support for the government's stand and suggested that the Syrian government was being wrongly targeted by the US.

"Turning Syria into another Libya or even Iraq is the last thing people around the world want to see," commented Beijing-based China Daily. "Before the crisis takes a turn for the worse, it is time the US learned from its past mistakes."