China and US clash over ‘belt and road’ link to UN Afghanistan mission
- Second motion in six months held up by Beijing’s insistence on reference to its massive infrastructure programme
The mission’s six-month mandate expires on Tuesday, and council members met behind closed doors for more than 2½ hours, unable to agree on a text after China’s demand.
Russian ambassador and Security Council president Vassily Nebenzia said diplomats were working on a compromise text. He said the council would meet on Tuesday in the hope of reaching unanimous agreement.
This is the second time in six months that the resolution to keep the UN political mission in Afghanistan operating has become embroiled in controversy over belt and road language.
Resolutions extending the mandate of the Afghan mission for a year in 2016, 2017 and 2018 had language welcoming and urging further efforts to strengthen regional economic cooperation involving Afghanistan, including through the infrastructure programme linking China to other parts of Asia, as well as Europe and Africa.
But in March, when the mandate renewal came up, US deputy ambassador Jonathan Cohen objected and said Beijing was insisting on making the resolution “about Chinese national political priorities rather than the people of Afghanistan”.