China said on Wednesday that Syria had vowed to respect and implement the peace plan offered by UN envoy to Syria Kofi Annan.

China said on Wednesday that Syria had vowed to respect and implement the peace plan offered by UN envoy to Syria Kofi Annan.

Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, received his Syrian counterpart Walid Moallem, who pledged his country would cooperate with a UN team sent to monitor the ceasefire, sponsored by Annan.

"Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem... said Syria would continue to... respect and implement Annan's 'six-point proposal'," China's foreign ministry quoted Moallem as telling Yang in Beijing.

Moallem also said Damascus remained committed to implementing the ceasefire, withdrawing troops and cooperating with UN observers, the ministry added.

For his part, Yang told the Syrian FM he hoped Syria would cooperate with Annan's mediation work, as well as the UN observer mission, according to the ministry.

Moallem is on a short visit to China aimed at briefing Beijing on his nation's latest efforts to implement Annan's six-point peace proposal, which came into force Thursday and includes the ceasefire and troop withdrawal.

Six members in a first advance party of observers had arrived late on Sunday in Syria, after the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing them to contact all the Syrian sides and ensure that they commit to the ceasefire.

The advance team is to be replaced in the longer term by some 200 to 250 international monitors. But this will require a new UN resolution.