You're reading: UN head visits China seeking tough action on Syria

BEIJING — U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon is heading to China as global powers ramp up efforts to respond to spiraling violence in Syria.

Ban arrives Tuesday ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote this week on whether to allow sanctions and military intervention in Syria if President Bashar Assad’s regime or insurgent forces fail to comply with a U.N. peace plan. Russia and China have blocked efforts to sanction Syria in the past.

The official People’s Daily newspaper ran a commentary Tuesday opposing force against Syria and calling for a political solution, a sign that China may again block the resolution.

Ban has warned that inaction would be “license for further massacres.”

Syria’s violence has grown increasingly bloody as the uprising has morphed from a peaceful protest movement into an armed insurgency.