UNITED NATIONS — The United States and United Kingdom clashed with China and Russia over Beijing’s new national security law for Hong Kong during closed Security Council…
UNITED NATIONS —
The United States and United Kingdom clashed with China and Russia over Beijing’s new national security law for Hong Kong during closed Security Council discussions on Friday that reflected increasing U. S.-China tensions.
Diplomats said China’s U. N. Ambassador Zhang Jun accused the U. S. and UK of meddling in the country’s internal affairs and making baseless accusations that the law risks curtailing freedoms guaranteed in the December 1984 Sino-British agreement that led to the 1997 handover of the British colony to China. He called the U. S. the “troublemaker” of the world and told council members not to make China “the enemy,” they said.
Zhang also asked what the U. S. would do if China wanted the council to discuss the situation in Minneapolis where an unarmed black man, George Floyd, died after a white policeman knelt on his neck, the diplomat said.
U. S. Ambassador Kelly Craft responded that every country has its difficulties and grievances but the difference is that the United Stated is a democracy with the rule of law where people can protest and have democratic rights, which isn’t the case in China, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were closed.
