China is speaking out against the NATO military strikes in Libya after Muammar Gaddafi’s son and grandchildren were killed:

“We hope all parties can cease fire immediately and solve the current crisis in a peaceful way through dialogue and negotiation,” Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said in a statement on the website.

She added that China was concerned about the rising number of civilian casualties from the conflict.

The deaths of Gaddafi’s family members are sensitive as they will likely feed accusations that NATO has over-stepped its U.N. mandate to protect Libyan civilians.