International
-DW News
New
York,
Jun
09:
In
a
first
of
its
kind
United
Nations
General
Assembly
meeting,
China
and
Russia
defended
their
vetoes
of
a
strongly-backed
US
proposal
that
would
have
increased
pressure
on
North
Korea
for
its
nuclear
program.
The
landmark
session,
held
on
Wednesday,
was
the
first
at
which
permanent
members
of
the
Security
Council
had
to
explain
their
use
of
the
veto
—
a
step
mandated
under
a
resolution
adopted
by
the
General
Assembly
in
April.
Last
month,
Beijing
and
Moscow
had
vetoed
a
draft
resolution
in
the
Security
Council
that
would
have
imposed
tougher
sanctions
on
North
Korea
in
the
wake
of
the
country’s
recent
ballistic
missile
tests.
What’s
new
about
such
meetings,
why
were
they
introduced?
Wednesday’s
session
was
the
first
ever
at
the
UN
General
Assembly
where
countries
were
called
upon
to
explain
themselves
after
vetoing
proposals
at
the
UN
Security
Council.
The
new
meetings
were
approved
at
a
consensus
vote
on
April
26,
the
upshot
of
international
frustration
at
veto-holder
Russia
shooting
down
a
series
of
resolutions
about
its
invasion
of
Ukraine.
The
session’s
value
is
almost
entirely
symbolic,
seeing
as
almost
all
the
UN’s
power
rests
within
the
Security
Council,
but
supporters
of
the
plan
said
it
would
at
least
force
veto-wielders
to
face
more
global
scrutiny
when
stopping
the
UN
from
acting.
Five
countries
—
the
US,
Britain,
France,
China
and
Russia
—
are
permanent
Security
Council
members
and
so
can
always
veto
proposals,
while
the
other
10
rotating
members
enjoy
the
same
power,
but
only
when
they
are
taking
their
turns
on
the
Council.
The
Soviet
Union
and
later
Russia
have
vetoed
the
most
times
at
the
UN
historically,
followed
by
the
US.
What
did
China
and
Russia
say?
China’s
ambassador
to
the
UN,
Zhang
Jun
criticized
the
US
approach
to
North
Korea,
saying
tension
on
the
peninsula
has
“developed
to
what
it
is
today,
primarily
due
to
the
flip
flop
of
US
policies.”
“Where
the
situation
goes
from
here
will
depend
to
a
large
extent
on
the
actions
of
the
US,”
he
said,
“and
the
key
lies
in
whether
the
U.S.
can
face
up
to
the
crux
of
the
problem,
demonstrate
a
reasonable
attitude,
and
take
meaningful
concrete
actions.”
Calling
on
the
US
to
consider
lifting
sanctions,
Zhang
said
that
Washington’s
efforts
to
apply
pressure
on
Pyongyang
would
not
achieve
any
goals.
Russia’s
deputy
UN
ambassador
Anna
Evstigneeva
said
new
sanctions
against
Pyongyang
“would
be
a
dead
end.”
She
said
that
the
current
UN
sanctions
had
failed
to
guarantee
security
in
the
region
“nor
moved
us
any
further
toward
settling
the
nuclear
missile
non-proliferation
issues.”
“Anyone
who
is
seriously
addressing
the
North
Korean
problem
has
long
understood
that
it’s
futile
to
expect
Pyongyang
to
unconditionally
disarm
under
the
threat
of
a
spiral
of
sanctions,” she
said.
How
did
US
react?
In
February,
three
weeks
before
Russia’s
war
in
Ukraine,
Beijing
and
Moscow
had
declared
a
“no
limits”
partnership.
The
vetoes
of
the
two
nations
on
North
Korea
publicly
split
the
Security
Council
for
the
first
time
since
it
began
slapping
sanctions
on
Pyongyang
in
2006.
On
Wednesday,
the
US
raised
questioned
whether
China
and
Russia
had
put
their
partnership
above
global
security
by
vetoing
more
UN
sanctions
on
North
Korea.
“We
hope
these
vetoes
are
not
a
reflection
of
that
partnership,”
senior
US
diplomat
Jeffrey
DeLaurentis
said.
“Their
explanations
for
exercising
the
veto
were
insufficient,
not
credible
and
not
convincing.
The
vetoes
were
not
deployed
to
serve
our
collective
safety
and
security,”
said
DeLaurentis,
addressing
the
193-member
assembly
after
China
and
Russia.
During
a
right
of
reply
in
the
General
Assembly
later
in
the
day,
Chinese
diplomat
Wu
Jianjian
said
China
rejected
“presumptuous
comments
and
accusations
against
China’s
voting
position.”
“China’s
vote
against
the
US-tabled
draft
resolution
was
entirely
reasonable
and
justified,”
Wu
said.
“Continuing
to
increase
the
sanctions
against
DPRK
(North
Korea)
would
only
make
the
likelihood
of
political
solution
even
more
remote.”
Source: DW
