‘Good riddance,’ China says as Germany leaves UN Security Council
- Ambassador Geng Shuang was responding to outgoing German envoy Christoph Heusgen’s appeal for Beijing to free two detained Canadians for Christmas
- Germany is ending its two-year term on the 15-member council, and Heusgen is planning to retire after over 40 years as a diplomat
Germany’s UN envoy, during his last scheduled UN Security Council meeting, appealed to China to free two detained Canadians for Christmas, prompting China’s deputy UN envoy to respond: “Out of the bottom of my heart: good riddance.”
Germany finishes a two-year term on the 15-member council at the end of this month and Ambassador Christoph Heusgen plans to retire after more than 40 years as a diplomat.
“Let me end my tenure on the Security Council by appealing to my Chinese colleagues to ask Beijing for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Christmas is the right moment for such a gesture,” Heusgen told the council session, whose official agenda topic was Iran.
Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat who was working as an adviser for the International Crisis Group think tank, and businessman Spavor were detained by Beijing in 2018 soon after Canadian police picked up Huawei Technologies Co Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant.
China’s deputy UN ambassador, Geng Shuang, accused Heusgen of abusing the Security Council to launch “malicious” attacks on other members “in an attempt to poison the working atmosphere”.