Washington switched tack on Thursday in its face-off with Europe on the new world war-crimes court, moving away from legal arguments in its bid for deals to shield US military and appealing instead for "pragmatism."
A senior State Department official said France had taken steps to put its nationals beyond the reach of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and countries in the Afghan peacekeeping force had guaranteed immunity from prosecution for troops there.
But he stopped short of accusing Europe of hypocrisy over an issue which has been a major contributor to transatlantic tensions.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Political and Military Affairs Lincoln Bloomfield told reporters after a meeting with EU officials in Brussels that he was not trying to resolve the difference of views at a legal level.
"I want Europeans to understand that at a pragmatic level Americans see their own position as quite ... reasonable and not different really, frankly, from what European political leaders require when it comes to their own nationals."
The US fears its nationals overseas could be vulnerable to politically motivated charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. US President George W. Bush's administration rescinded former President Bill Clinton's signature to the ICC treaty.
Last month Washington won a second year-long exemption from prosecution and has been lobbying hard for ICC signatories to sign bilateral immunity agreements under which they would agree not to hand US citizens automatically over to the court.
At the heart of the debate is Article 98 (2) of the Rome Treaty that created the Hague-based permanent court, which Washington argues allows nations to negotiate immunity for their forces. The EU believes such pacts are not compatible with the treaty and risk undermining the court.
"The discussion in the past has tended to revolve very narrowly around specific provisions of the Rome Treaty and specific provisions of Article 98 etc.," Bloomfield said.
"From a political and pragmatic view my appeal is that people understand that the American position is seen at least by Americans as being not unreasonable at all."
An EU diplomat said Bloomfield's focus on pragmatism rather than legal niceties suggested that "the Americans are aware of the limits imposed by Article 98."
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was