Ukraine war: China invokes 1999 Belgrade embassy bombing in attack on Nato expansion
- China’s ambassador to the UN renews call for a peaceful resolution to the conflict
- Nato hit on Chinese embassy two decades ago a ‘barbaric atrocity’ China will not forget
Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, fired the broadside at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Thursday, more than two months after Russia’s invasion.
Zhang repeated Beijing’s position by calling for a peaceful resolution to the war and for efforts to limit the humanitarian impact of the war.
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“We call on the international community to strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and work together to effectively regulate and contain the negative spillover effects of the Ukraine conflict,” he said.
Zhang urged the international community to create conditions for the Russia-Ukraine negotiations. The ambassador said the two parties had “built some groundwork” from prior talks, adding that any attempt to benefit from aggravating the conflict would backfire.
He also warned that “all-dimensional and indiscriminate” sanctions subjected people in all countries, especially developing countries, to higher food prices, oil prices and other hefty costs.
“Arbitrary seizure and freezing of foreign exchange reserves of other countries is tantamount to weaponising economic interdependence, which is bringing more uncertainties and perils to the world economy and international relations,” the ambassador said.
China harks back to Belgrade bombing after Nato cites ‘obligation’ on Ukraine
Zhang called on the international community to strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and work together to regulate and contain the negative effects spilling over from the Ukraine conflict.
He said that a lesson learned from the Ukraine crisis was that it was not reasonable or operable to base one country’s security on the insecurity of other countries.
“Nato’s repeated eastward expansion after the Cold War has not only failed to make Europe any safer, but also sowed the seeds of conflict,” he said.
“Contrary to its claim to be an organisation defensive in nature, Nato has wantonly launched wars against sovereign countries, causing colossal casualties and humanitarian disasters.”
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Zhang referred to the three Chinese journalists killed and more than 20 Chinese diplomats wounded when Nato fired precision-guided missiles at the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia on May 7, 1999.
“The Chinese people will never forget this barbaric atrocity, and will never allow such history to repeat itself,” the ambassador said.
He said Nato should naturally size up a situation and make necessary adjustments.
Zhang said the bloc had been “clinging to the anachronistic doctrine of security … keen to provoke bloc confrontations and create tensions in Europe, and even the Asia-Pacific region and the wider world”, a position China firmly opposed.
