The US and Japan are the real security threat to the Asia-Pacific, Beijing insists
Washington and Tokyo need to abandon their Cold War mentality and stop inventing enemies in the Asia-Pacific region, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday. He described a recent joint statement by American and Japanese foreign and defense ministers as containing “groundless smears and attacks” on China.
“We urge the US and Japan to abandon the Cold-War mentality and ideological bias, stop creating imaginary enemies and stop trying to sow the seeds of a new Cold War in the Asia-Pacific,” Wang told reporters at a regular briefing in Beijing.
Wang’s declaration came in response to the joint statement by the US-Japan Security Consultative Committee issued on Wednesday, which declared the alliance between Washington and Tokyo as “the cornerstone of regional peace, security, and prosperity.”
The document states that China represents “the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond,” and is signed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada.
According to Wang, however, the US and Japan are instead “finding pretexts for military build-up and wilful use of force,” creating division and confrontation.
“They claim to uphold the rules-based international order, but what they do is trampling on international law and the basic norms governing international relations and grossly interfering in other countries’ internal affairs,” Wang told reporters.
The Asia-Pacific is “an anchor for peace and development, not a wrestling ground for geopolitical competition,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman insisted, adding that most of the countries in the world are “for justice and against hegemonism,” preferring cooperation to confrontation.
Asked about Washington’s publicly announced plans to restrict Beijing’s access to semiconductor technology, Wang said China will “resolutely safeguard our own interests.”
He accused the US of abusing export controls and weaponizing trade “in order to perpetuate its hegemony and selfish interests.” This not only “severely violates market rules” but also disrupts international trade, he insisted.
https://www.rt.com/news/569826-china-us-japan-imaginary-enemies/
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
