Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Picture: Sergei Chirikov/Reuters
Cape Town: China and Russia backed North Korea at a General Assembly meeting on Wednesday and accused the US of inciting tension to justify its decision to impose tough new global sanctions against Pyongyang.
Al Jazeera reported that the Chinese ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, had told the General Assembly that dialogue was needed between North Korea and the Biden administration. He had blamed the ‘flip-flop’ of US policies for the rising tension.
“There are many things that the US can do, such as easing sanctions on (North Korea) in certain areas, and ending joint military exercises (with South Korea),” Zhang had said. “The key is to take actions, not just talk about its readiness for dialogue with no preconditions.”
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, called for sanctions to be lifted.
She said new sanctions “would be a dead end”, noting that the sanctions had not done anything to “settle the nuclear missile non-proliferation issues”.
According to The Washington Post, Evstigneeva said the creation of new military blocs in the regions, such as the formation of the US-Great Britain and Australia, cast serious doubt on the good intentions of those countries, including in Pyongyang.
“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,” said Evstigneeva.
IOL