No exception nor privilege in complying with int'l law: China FM

China

No exception nor privilege in complying with int'l law: China FM

2024-04-18 20:03 Last Updated At：22:27

There is no exception nor any privilege for the United States in complying with international law, including United Nations Security Council resolutions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at a joint press conference after meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

In response to a question over the UN's role in calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Wang said that in the Gaza conflict, which has persisted for half a year, a rare humanitarian tragedy of the 21st century has unfolded.

The UN Security Council, in response to the calls of the international community, has been continuously deliberating on draft resolutions regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, only to be repeatedly vetoed by the United States, Wang said.

"For the first time, the Security Council has finally adopted Resolution 2728, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This time, the United States lost the nerve to stay on the opposite side of international justice and chose to abstain instead, but it still claimed that this resolution was 'non-binding.' The U.S. claim really made people's jaws drop and once again exposed its hegemonic mindset. The international law is merely a tool to the U.S., which can be utilized or discarded as it sees fit," Wang said.

Wang pointed out that every member state of the United Nations is well aware that the resolutions adopted by the Security Council in accordance with the UN Charter are of binding force and that all countries are obliged to abide by them, which is a serious commitment made by all countries when they joined the United Nations. The United States, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, should take the lead in abiding by UN Security Council resolutions.

"In response to the preposterous claim made by the United States, the UN Secretariat made it unequivocally clear that all Security Council resolutions are international law and are legally binding. It is hoped that the United States can drop its egoistic mindset and open its ears to the voices of the international community in earnest. We suggest the U.S. officials to brush up on the basics of the international law," he said.

The United States has consistently claimed to comply with "the rules-based international order," but the most significant rules are the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, including international legal norms such as UN Security Council resolutions, Wang said.

"As the core of the collective security mechanism, the Security Council should not become a tool for certain countries to play geopolitics, still less an arena for hegemony and power politics to prevail. When it comes to compliance with the international law including Security Council resolutions, the UN makes no exceptions and the U.S. enjoys no prerogatives. It is hoped that the United States can change its old habit of feeling superior to anyone else, and work, as a member of the United Nations, along with other member states, to fulfill its due international responsibilities, support Resolution 2728, and help achieve a complete ceasefire in Gaza at an early date, so as to save the Palestinian people from their sufferings," he said.

Gov't' response to university protests says a lot about US establishment: scholar

2024-05-02 00:08 Last Updated At：01:05

The U.S. government's use of strong-arm measures to quell voices that differ from its official position speaks volume about the American political system, Ray Baker, adjunct professor at Towson University in Baltimore said on Tuesday.

In a video interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Baker weighed in on the widespread pro-Palestinian demonstrations which are ongoing at multiple U.S. colleges and the political establishment's use of excessive police force against the students.

Colombia University in New York is seen as the "flashpoint" of the student demonstrations which have sprung up across the nation, with the participants there setting up encampments as they continue to voice their anger over Israel's bombardment and siege in the Gaza Strip.

House Speaker Mike Johnson last week called on the president of Columbia University to resign over the prolonged demonstrations, and when Johnson paid an April 24 visit to the Colombia University's campus, where tensions are high between the university administration and students, he was met with booing crowds.

Baker believes that this shows the U.S. political establishment actually rarely wants to hear voices that disagree with its official line and that it views such public disagreements as an embarrassment that need to be contained by whatever means it can.

"The establishment rarely, if ever, welcomes protest, welcomes modifications, welcomes adjustment, and so it stands to reason that the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States would not want to see mass protests among college students engaging in a disagreement, a public disagreement, and in fact, public embarrassment of the public policies of the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, and the White House. The entire foreign policy apparatus in the United States is being embarrassed by these protests. So, it stands to reason with very clear rationality why leadership of the United States public policy arm would want to go to these college campuses and quell that conversation," said the professor.

Baker was also scathing in his assessment of how the U.S. is operating as an empire, and said the U.S. political establishment's response to the student demonstrations has thrown into sharp relief its true colors.

"We must acknowledge that empires exist to perpetuate their own positivity and power. In that vein, the Speaker of the House has every right and desire to go to these college campuses and is ostensibly telling the president of the Columbia University and signaling to presidents of universities all across the nation, 'Get your people under control. If you cannot, we have armed forces that are there to do that.' That invites us to reflect on what does that say about the United States, if that's the way that we adjudicate this discrepancy with our public policy by bringing in our armed wing of enforcement to restrain protests and get people back under control," he said.