Bahrain’s foreign minister yesterday suggested suspending Qatar’s Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) membership until it accepts the demands of its Arab adversaries in the region’s worst crisis in years.
“The correct step to preserve the GCC would be to freeze Qatar’s membership until it sees reason and accepts the demands of our countries. If not, we will be fine with it leaving the GCC,” Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said on Twitter.
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt on June 5 severed ties with Qatar over accusations of supporting extremism and being too close to Iran, charges Doha has denied.
Experts have warned that the nearly five-month-long diplomatic crisis could cause the six-nation GCC’s demise. Members are supposed to meet before the end of the year, but the crisis could see the bloc’s annual meeting postponed or canceled.
“Bahrain will not attend a summit with Qatar, which becomes closer to Iran each day and brings foreign forces [to its soil], dangerous steps for the security of GCC countries,” Sheikh Khalid said.
Meanwhile, in an US television interview that aired on Sunday, Qatar’s emir accused Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies of seeking to topple his government.
“They want a regime change. It’s ... so obvious,” Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani told CBS’ 60 Minutes. “History as well tells us, teaches us they tried to do that before, in 1996 after my father became the emir. So, and they made it also so obvious in the last couple of weeks.”
Sheikh Tamim said he is ready for US-hosted direct talks aimed at solving crisis, but has yet to hear a response to US President Donald Trump’s invitation to the four Arab states boycotting Doha.
“Nothing is going to be above our dignity, our sovereignty. But we want it to end. I always say that,” he told 60 Minutes. “If they [are] going to walk one meter toward me, I’m willing to walk 10,000 miles towards them.”
Sheikh Tamim said that in talks on the sidelines of a UN meeting last month, Trump had made an offer to host talks in the US.
“I told him straightaway: ‘Mr president, we are very ready. I’ve been asking for dialogue from day one,” Sheikh Tamim said, adding that the meeting was supposed to happen very soon and that he had not heard a response from the other countries.
He reiterated that Qatar would not close down the Doha-based al-Jazeera television network, as demanded by the four countries, who accuse the broadcaster of bias and interfering in their affairs.
He also said that he said he feared for the region if any military actions were taken as part of the crisis.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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
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
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