US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to participate in a UN Security Council meeting chaired by Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on strengthening global cooperation and the key role of the UN in harnessing international action to tackle the world’s conflicts and crises, China’s ambassador to the UN said on Monday.
The meeting is “the first priority” of China’s UN Security Council presidency this month, and is to be attended not only by Blinken, but “quite a number” of other foreign ministers from the 15 nations on the UN’s most powerful body, Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun (張軍) told a news conference.
Last week, US President Joe Biden told Congress about the critical importance of the US keeping up with China, which his administration sees as a strategic challenger, and proving that US democracy can still work and maintain primacy in the world.
Photo: Reuters
Friday’s council session also comes in the wake of a contentious meeting in Alaska on March 18 between Blinken and Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪), who took aim at each other’s country’s sharply different policies. It was the first face-to-face US-China meeting of the Biden administration.
Blinken said the administration is united with its allies in pushing back against China’s increasing authoritarianism and assertiveness at home and abroad, including its actions in Hong Kong and against Taiwan, the Uighur minority in Xinjiang and in the South China Sea.
Yang responded angrily, demanding that the US stop pushing its own version of democracy at a time when the US has been roiled by domestic discontent and accusing Washington of hypocrisy for criticizing Beijing on human rights and other issues.
“It’s becoming more and more evident that in tackling the current global crises, multilateralism represents the right way out,” Zhang said on Monday.
He recalled the declaration adopted in September last year by world leaders commemorating the 75th anniversary of the UN, which says that following the COVID-19 pandemic: “Multilateralism is not an option, but a necessity as we build back better for a more equal, more resilient, and more sustainable world. The United Nations must be at the center of our efforts.”
At Friday’s meeting, “we do hope ... members will have the opportunity to reaffirm their support to multilateralism, to practice real multilateralism, and then to give stronger support to the role of the United Nations and to defend the international system with the United Nations sitting at the center, and also to support international order based on international law,” he said.
HIGH-RISK GROUP: After the latest outbreak, family members of workers exposed to infection would from tomorrow be eligible for government-funded vaccines The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four local COVID-19 cases: three family members of an infected worker at a quarantine hotel and a family member of an infected pilot. The new cases bring the number of infections involving China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) pilots and the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, where many of the airline’s crew members quarantined, to 24. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said three of them are the husband, son and daughter of case No. 1,129, a woman in her 60s, who works at the hotel. The son is in
NEXT STEP? The contract chipmaker said it would decide whether to add more plants based on operation efficiency, cost economics and demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is planning to build several more chipmaking fabs in the US state of Arizona beyond the one already planned, three people familiar with the matter said. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, announced in May last year that it would build a US$12 billion fab in Arizona. The 12-inch wafer fab in Phoenix is expected to start mass production in 2024, the Investment Commission said in December, when it approved the plan. Three sources familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that up
VIRUS CURBS: Visiting people staying at healthcare and long-term care facilities in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan is banned until May 17, the CECC announced The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday banned visits to patients or residents at healthcare and long-term care facilities in three cities until May 17. It also reported six imported cases of COVID-19 and two cases with unclear infection sources. As the number of locally transmitted cases rises, some of whom have visited many places in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, enhanced disease prevention measures have to be implemented in the three cities, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. “Visiting people staying at healthcare and long-term care facilities in Taipei, New Taipei City and
UP TO TWO DAYS: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said that most who got the shot and felt discomfort only felt ill for the first two days Employees can ask for unpaid COVID-19 vaccination leave, from the day of their shot until the end of the next day, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday, adding that the policy takes effect immediately. “The policy of unpaid COVID-19 vaccination leave will be implemented starting on May 5, and all workers and civil servants will be eligible,” Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, told a news conference. Leave can be taken on the day of vaccination and if recipients feel discomfort after getting the shot, they can extend the leave to all of the
RSS