China supports Cuba’s argument that the United States should consider imposing sanctions on its alleged human rights violations before confronting other countries.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday that China, as president, “firmly supports the efforts of the Cuban government and people to maintain social stability.” Joe Biden After the historic protests in this island country, redoubled pressure on Cuba.
The latest measures announced on Thursday include sanctions on the head of the Cuban armed forces and a department of the Ministry of the Interior in response to their alleged role in suppressing demonstrations. The American leader warned that “this is only the beginning” and that “the United States will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppressing the Cuban people.”
The next day, Zhao lashed out at this approach.
“We firmly oppose any attempts to interfere with other countries’ internal affairs, unilateral sanctions, and collude with other countries under the guise of’freedom’,’democracy’, and’human rights’,” Zhao said.
He quoted the previous comment Twitter Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez refuted “baseless and defamatory sanctions imposed by the U.S. government” and suggested that the country “should apply the Magnitsky Global Act to itself in response to The systematic repression and police brutality that claimed 1021 lives in 2020. ”
The White House has used the legislation to impose financial and travel restrictions on individuals accused of corruption and human rights violations. But Zhao said that Washington complies with the bill.
“The U.S. should first look at its own human rights issues,” Zhao said, “rather than brandishing a big stick of sanctions, grossly interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, creating divisions or confrontations.”
He then called on Washington to lift the decades-long trade embargo on Havana.
Zhao said: “China believes that mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation are the correct way to handle state-to-state relations.” “At present, Cuba is at a critical moment in fighting COVID-19 and working to alleviate the suffering of the people. The United States must immediately complete Lifting unilateral sanctions against Cuba is in line with the purposes and basic norms of the UN Charter. It will contribute to the improvement of U.S.-Cuba relations and international and regional stability.”
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The sanctions against Cuba can be traced back to the Cold War, when the revolutionary Fidel Castro adopted communism shortly after the 1959 revolution. The uprising took place ten years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China under the leadership of Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Washington will not recognize Beijing until three years later.
During the former president’s administration, the United States briefly relaxed its trade restrictions on Cuba. Barack Obama, President Joe Biden served as Vice President, but was later reinstated under the leadership of the former President Donald TrumpAlthough Biden supported reconciliation with Havana in the past, these measures are still effective today.
The Biden administration has initiated a review of its Cuban policy, but the results have not yet been announced. However, the latest news indicates that in the future, it will take a tougher stance against Cuba.
But according to the State Department’s own admission, the Cuban government’s behavior shows almost no signs of change.
“We haven’t seen that kind of response yet,” the secretary of state Anthony winked Tell Microsoft National Broadcasting Corporation on Friday. “In these situations, the regime tends to double the bet. But again, it has nothing to do with us.”
What Havana has done is to blame social stability on social movements primarily based in the United States, and blame economic deficiencies on Washington’s embargo, which has been condemned globally, including the nearly unanimous 184-2 United Nations The General Assembly voted last month, and only the United States and Israel voted against it. Brazil, Colombia and Ukraine abstained.
“President Biden does not support the Cuban people,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel tweeted on Friday a video of an anti-embargo demonstration in New York City. “His government maintains a policy of responsibility for the economic shortage and suffering of millions of Cuban families. The mandatory measures aimed at freeing our people from hunger and the necessary coercive measures will not subdue #SoverignCuba.”
As far as Brinken is concerned, he called this the wrong way to solve the problem.
“I think a big mistake the regime made was trying to point the finger at the United States, saying that we are responsible for these protests. We are not,” Brinken said on Friday. “These are the Cuban people. They are speaking. They are speaking. They are standing up. A regime that doesn’t understand this, lacks the confidence to let its people’s voice be heard, and I think it is making a very, very big mistake.”
Beijing also accused Washington of interfering in its affairs, and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Friday criticizing the United States for sanctions on officials of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous special administrative region controlled by the Biden administration. Like Trump before it, it has gradually lost its autonomy after suppressing large-scale protests cheered by the West.
The ministry said it “resolutely opposes and strongly condemns” Washington’s latest move.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the US concocted the so-called “Hong Kong Business Consultancy” to groundlessly discredit Hong Kong’s business environment and imposed illegal sanctions on many officials in the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. “These actions seriously violated international law and the basic norms of international relations, and seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs.”
In response, it expanded its own economic restriction countermeasures against seven scholars and former officials who criticized the People’s Republic of China.
The statement said: “I want to emphasize once again that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and Hong Kong affairs are an integral part of China’s internal affairs.” “Any attempts by external forces to interfere in Hong Kong affairs are futile.”
The move came two days before Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman (Wendy Sherman) was scheduled to arrive in China on Sunday for talks. State Department spokesperson Ned Price recently stated that she will “come from a strong position” to cover potential “competitive factors, confrontation factors, and potential cooperation factors” in the relationship between the two countries.
Zhao refuted this framework on Friday, calling it “define China as a competitor, provoke confrontation, contain and suppress China’s development.” He also said that the motto of “power status” reflects the “arrogance and bullying” of the United States.
“The Chinese side always believes that Sino-US relations should be based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and not on the exclusive interests of one party,” Zhao said. “The development of Sino-US relations requires a’guardrail’, but it cannot be unilaterally defined by the US. The US should stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, stop smearing China, and harm China’s interests.”
After Xie Meng arrived, he stated that Beijing “will continue to elaborate on China’s principled position on the development of Sino-US relations, and firmly safeguard sovereignty, security and development interests.”
