Appealing China to free two detained Canadians for Christmas, Germany’s UN envoy Christoph Heusgen announced his retirement after more than 40 years as a diplomat. Responding to his announcement, China’s deputy UN envoy said, “Out of the bottom of my heart: Good riddance.”
The German Ambassador’s announcement comes as the nation finishes a two-year term on the 15-member council at the end of this month. Speaking at the council session, Heusgen said, “Let me end my tenure on the Security Council by appealing to my Chinese colleagues to ask Beijing for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Christmas is the right moment for such a gesture.”
While Kovrig is a former Canadian diplomat who was working as an adviser for the International Crisis Group think tank, Spavor is a businessman and both were detained by Beijing in 2018 shortly after Canadian police picked up Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant.
Meanwhile, accusing Heusgen of abusing the Security Council to launch “malicious” attacks on other members “in an attempt to poison the working atmosphere”, China’s deputy UN ambassador, Geng Shuang, said, “I wish to say something out of the bottom of my heart: Good riddance, Ambassador Heusgen. I am hoping that the council in your absence in the year 2021 will be in a better position to fulfil the responsibilities…for maintaining international peace and security.”
As per a Reuters report, Heusgen also used the Security Council meeting to advise Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, to read certain articles about Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who said he had tricked a Russian secret agent into disclosing details of a botched plot to kill him. Russia’s FSB security service dismissed the recording as a fake.
Polyanskiy replied, “It seems he’s developed a certain dependency on the council, there’s never a meeting without criticism of Russia even if that’s not suitable for the subject matter. I hope that after Jan. 1 that Christoph’s symptoms will improve.”
Article By :indianavaz.com
