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China FM slams ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians in talks with Lebanese counterpart

China FM slams ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians in talks with Lebanese counterpart
Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi addresses the "Summit of the Future" in the General Assembly hall at United Nations headquarters in New York City, US. (File/Reuters)
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China FM slams ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians in talks with Lebanese counterpart

China FM slams ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on civilians in talks with Lebanese counterpart
  • Wang acknowledged the strikes, saying China “strongly condemns any violation of the basic norms governing international relations.”
  • China also urged its citizens to leave Israel on Sunday as tensions with Lebanon grew
Updated 7 sec ago
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BEIJING: China’s top diplomat Wang Yi expressed support for Lebanon and condemned what he termed “indiscriminate attacks against civilians,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Meeting his Lebanese counterpart in New York, Wang said: “We pay close attention to developments in the region, especially the recent explosion of communications equipment in Lebanon, and firmly oppose indiscriminate attacks against civilians.”
Last week, a series of coordinated communications device blasts across Lebanon killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000.
And on Monday, Israeli air strikes killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women, and wounded 1,645 others in the country, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Wang acknowledged the strikes, saying China “strongly condemns any violation of the basic norms governing international relations.”
“No matter how the situation changes, we will always stand on the side of justice, on the side of our Arab brothers, including Lebanon,” Wang told Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.
“Armed force does not represent truth, and might only undermines peace,” Wang said.
“Countering violence with violence will not solve the problems in the Middle East and will only lead to an even greater humanitarian disaster,” he added.
China also urged its citizens to leave Israel on Sunday as tensions with Lebanon grew.
China has repeatedly called for peace talks to resolve the crisis in Gaza.
In July, the country brokered a “national unity” deal between Hamas, Fatah, and other Palestinian organizations to rule Gaza together after the war.

Topics: UNGA79 Lebanon China

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World leaders gather at UN as Mideast tensions explode

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Burj el-Shmali on September 23, 2024.
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Burj el-Shmali on September 23, 2024.
Updated 24 September 2024
AFP
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World leaders gather at UN as Mideast tensions explode

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Burj el-Shmali on September 23, 2024.
  • UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman said he was “gravely alarmed” as focus shifted from Gaza to Lebanon, and the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell warned “we are almost in a full-fledged war”
Updated 24 September 2024
AFP

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Escalating clashes between Israel and Hezbollah threatened to overshadow US President Joe Biden’s final appearance at the UN’s signature annual event on Tuesday as diplomats scrambled to avert an all-out regional war.
The gathering of dozens of world leaders, the high point of the diplomatic calendar, comes a day after Israeli air strikes on Lebanon killed more than 490 people, according to local authorities.
As world leaders gathered in Manhattan Monday for the annual flurry of speeches and face-to-face diplomacy, UN Security Council member France called for an emergency meeting on the crisis engulfing the Middle East.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman said he was “gravely alarmed” as focus shifted from Gaza to Lebanon, and the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell warned “we are almost in a full-fledged war.”
Israel’s closest ally the United States again warned against a full-blown ground invasion of Lebanon, with a senior US official promising to bring “concrete” ideas for de-escalation to the UN this week.
It is unclear what progress can be made to defuse the situation in Lebanon as efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, which Israel has relentlessly pounded since October 2023, have come to nothing.
“Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan will be the dominant issues,” said Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group think tank, adding he expected many leaders to “warn that the UN will become irrelevant globally if it cannot help make peace.”
More than 100 heads of state and government are scheduled to speak during the UN’s centerpiece event, which will run until Monday.

Since last year’s annual gathering, when Sudan’s civil war and Russia’s Ukraine invasion dominated, the world has faced an explosion of crises.
“International challenges are moving faster than our ability to solve them,” Guterres warned ahead of the gathering.
The October 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israel and the ensuing violence in the Middle East has exposed deep divisions in the global body.
With Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas expected to address the General Assembly this week, there could be combustible moments.
On Tuesday, representatives of Turkiye, Jordan, Qatar, Iran and Algeria are slated to take the podium to press for a Gaza ceasefire after nearly one year of war.
Ukraine will also be on the agenda Tuesday when President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses a UN Security Council meeting on Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“I invite all leaders and nations to continue supporting our joint efforts for a just and peaceful future,” Zelensky told the UN on Monday.
“Putin has stolen much already, but he will never steal the world’s future.”

It is unclear if the grand diplomatic gathering can achieve anything for the millions mired in conflict and poverty globally.
“Any real diplomacy to reduce tensions will take place behind the scenes,” Gowan said.
“This may be an opportunity for Western and Arab diplomats to have some quiet conversations with the Iranians about the need to stop the regional situation spinning out of control.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has called for an urgent meeting of Arab leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly over the crisis in Lebanon.
Guterres cautioned against “the possibility of transforming Lebanon (into) another Gaza.”

 

Topics: UNGA79 War on Gaza Palestine Gaza Lebanon Ukraine

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Biden’s UN goodbye aims to ‘Trump-proof’ legacy

Biden’s UN goodbye aims to ‘Trump-proof’ legacy
Updated 24 September 2024
AFP
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Biden’s UN goodbye aims to ‘Trump-proof’ legacy

Biden’s UN goodbye aims to ‘Trump-proof’ legacy
  • From his keynote address to the UN and a major climate speech on Tuesday, to talks on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Biden will be trying to lay the ground for US alliances and leadership that could outlast Trump
Updated 24 September 2024
AFP

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Behind the smiles as Joe Biden bids farewell to world leaders at the UN General Assembly this week will be one goal — shoring up his legacy against a possible White House comeback by Donald Trump.
Countries around the world are nervously watching November’s US presidential election amid fears that a Trump victory over Kamala Harris would bring back his hard-line, isolationist foreign policy.
And as Biden makes his final appearance at the UNGA in New York after dropping out of the race in July and endorsing his vice president as the Democratic nominee, the 81-year-old is not taking any chances.
Viewing his presidency as a return from the brink during Republican Trump’s four years in the Oval Office, Biden will be trying to make his achievements, as one aide put it, “irreversible.”
From his keynote address to the UN and a major climate speech on Tuesday, to talks on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Biden will be trying to lay the ground for US alliances and leadership that could outlast Trump.
“When President Biden came to office nearly four years ago he pledged to restore American leadership on the world stage,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling with him to New York.
Biden would now use his UN address to outline his “vision” for how that should continue and to “reaffirm how this approach has produced results for the American people and for the world,” she added.
His UN swansong comes amid a wider attempt by Biden to burnish his legacy at home and abroad, after a one-term presidency cut short when a disastrous debate against Trump fueled concerns about his age.
In an emotional moment Sunday, on the eve of the assembly, former president Bill Clinton presented Biden with the “Clinton Global Citizen Award” at a surprise ceremony in New York.

Biden held a cabinet meeting last week to urge a “sprint to the finish” to promote his policies — and to give any reflected glory to Harris in an agonizingly close election.
His director of communications Ben LaBolt said in a memo to White House staff that the administration should “put a stake in the ground for the future” — and, in a clear swipe at Trump, spoke of how Biden had restored “decency and dignity to the White House.”
With an eye on the history books, Biden is seeking to put his stamp on policy across the board.
On international alliances — where Trump threatened to drop western allies if they did not spend more money on defense and held summits with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un — Biden hosted the leaders of Japan, India and Australia for a farewell summit in his hometown on Saturday.
On climate — where Trump pulled the US out of the Paris accords — Biden wanted to build an “irreversible momentum behind climate action,” his National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi said Monday.
And on Ukraine — where Trump praised Putin and has been distinctly cool in supporting Kyiv — Biden is hosting a farewell meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Thursday to discuss more US support.
Yet the greatest prize of all seems further away than ever.
Biden had set his sights securing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza before he leaves office in January 2025.
But instead the situation in the Middle East is becoming ever more dangerous, with the UNGA likely to be dominated by Israeli attacks on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon which have killed at least 500 people.
US officials said Biden would focus on the need for a Gaza ceasefire and for calm in the region in his speech on Tuesday.
 

 

Topics: US President Joe Biden Palestine Gaza Lebanon Ukraine

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As wars rage, UN’s critics say global body is failing its mission

As wars rage, UN’s critics say global body is failing its mission
Updated 24 September 2024
AFP
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As wars rage, UN’s critics say global body is failing its mission

As wars rage, UN’s critics say global body is failing its mission
  • The Security Council, the UN body charged with securing and enforcing peace, is largely paralyzed on the issues of Gaza and Ukraine because of the vetoes wielded by Washington and Moscow
Updated 24 September 2024
AFP

UNITED NATIONS, United States: As wars rage worldwide, with civilian casualties a daily occurrence, critics of the United Nations say the body is failing at its most basic job, while experts warn the organization is being scapegoated for things that are beyond its control.
Maintaining peace and international security is one of the UN’s central missions, but its record has been badly tarnished as bloodshed intensifies in conflicts across the world, including in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.
The UN’s detractors point to those brutal conflicts, among others, as evidence that the global organization — hosting its centerpiece gathering of world leaders in New York this week — has failed in its mission.
The UN’s chief, however, has a different view.
“It’s obvious that we are not having peace and security in the world, and it’s obvious that it’s not because of the UN as an institution that that doesn’t happen,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP.
“It’s because of member states.”
The Security Council, the UN body charged with securing and enforcing peace, is largely paralyzed on the issues of Gaza and Ukraine because of the vetoes wielded by Washington and Moscow.
The deep divisions between the council’s permanent members — Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States — mean that its “legitimacy and relevance” are eroded, complained Slovenia’s UN ambassador Samuel Zbogar, the rotating president of the body.
He also condemned the “poisonous mood” in the council, blaming Washington and Moscow for it.
The fractious situation at the UN Security Council is, however, nothing new.
“The UN has never been able to stop conflicts involving the major powers,” said Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group, accusing countries with dominant militaries of hiding behind the UN.
“It’s ultimately better to have the US and Russia arguing over Syria in the Security Council rather than fighting a hot war in Syria.”

Oona Hathaway, a professor of international law at Yale University, defended the Security Council, saying many of the institution’s successes were inherently invisible.
“What you don’t see is the wars that don’t happen,” she said, calling for the rest of the UN’s 193 members to do their bit for peace through the General Assembly.
Though that body’s resolutions are non-binding, Hathaway said that the assembly is more powerful than it perceives itself and that it could, for example, create a tribunal to hold Russia accountable for its Ukraine war.
Academics have stressed the importance of the UN’s peacekeeping operations, with 70,000 “blue helmets” deployed worldwide for the protection of civilians.
The lofty aims of the missions have not spared them from bitter opposition, however. In Mali, for instance, the peacekeeping force was forced out by the ruling junta in 2023, who said the force had failed.
“There’s a lot of hate of the UN but this is actually the best multilateral system that we have,” said Gissou Nia of the US-based Atlantic Council think tank.
No other organization could be built today in the UN’s image, given a global geopolitical situation that is riven with deep divides, she said.
Jean-Marie Guehenno, the former head of UN peacekeeping, insisted that the institution was irreplaceable, and that while “the UN is in a rough patch, it would not be in our interest to shut up shop.”
“So (countries) whine, they say the UN is useless — but at the same time they acknowledge it’s still a useful forum, and a bellwether. A bellwether that has been trampled, insulted, and left in bad shape — but with the hope of a better future,” he said.
Guterres insists the UN’s humanitarian role is “more important than ever” and that the organization’s agencies have “been rescuing people in dramatic circumstances.”
While some observers would like to see the UN seize the initiative diplomatically more often, Guterres acknowledges that “the secretary-general of the United Nations has very limited power.”
“No power and no money,” he concluded.
 

 

 

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EU’s Borrell says Lebanon-Israel escalation nearing ‘full-fledged war’

EU’s Borrell says Lebanon-Israel escalation nearing ‘full-fledged war’
Updated 24 September 2024
AFP
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EU’s Borrell says Lebanon-Israel escalation nearing ‘full-fledged war’

EU’s Borrell says Lebanon-Israel escalation nearing ‘full-fledged war’
  • Borrell said civilians were paying a high price and all diplomatic efforts were needed to prevent a full-blown war
Updated 24 September 2024
AFP

NEW YORK: EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that the escalating clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah threaten to plunge the Middle East into all-out war.
“I can say we are almost in a full-fledged war,” Borrell said ahead of a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.
“We’re seeing more military strikes, more damage, more collateral damage, more victims,” he added as Lebanese authorities said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 492 people on Monday, including 35 children.
The strikes marked the deadliest day of cross-border violence since the Gaza war began.
Israel said it killed a “large number” of Hezbollah militants when it hit about 1,300 sites in southern and eastern Lebanon, including a “targeted strike” in Beirut.
“Everybody has to put all their capacity to stop this,” Borrell said, pressing for a solution in New York.
On Gaza, he said “despite all the diplomatic capacity that we have deployed, nothing has been able to stop the war,” accusing both sides of “procrastinating.”
 

 

Topics: War on Gaza Palestine Gaza US Lebanon EU

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France requests emergency UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon

New French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot delivers a speech during the handover ceremony, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris.
New French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot delivers a speech during the handover ceremony, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris.
Updated 24 September 2024
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France requests emergency UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon

New French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot delivers a speech during the handover ceremony, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris.
  • “I have requested that an emergency meeting of the Security Council be held on Lebanon this week,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the United Nations General Assembly on Monday
Updated 24 September 2024
AFP

UNITED NATIONS, United States: France on Monday requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss Lebanon after Israel launched a major cross-border attack following nearly a year of clashes with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
“I have requested that an emergency meeting of the Security Council be held on Lebanon this week,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, calling on all sides to “avoid a regional conflagration that would be devastating for everyone,” especially civilians.
 

 

Topics: UNGA79 War on Gaza Palestine Gaza US Lebanon

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