Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call Monday for the UN to play a major role in the long-term international fight against terrorism won immediate support from the US, Russia and China. But the world body is still struggling to decide what it can and should do.
Addressing a scaled-down meeting of the General Assembly, Annan declared that only the UN can give "global legitimacy" to the long-term struggle against "the unspeakable horror" of terrorism. He urged all countries to work together to strengthen international peace and security "by cementing the ties among nations, and not subjecting them to new strains."
Last week, the General Assembly postponed its annual gathering of global leaders because of security concerns following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Nonetheless, the 189 nations in the world body are going ahead with their work program among lower level representatives -- with the exception of Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov who was in New York after talks in Washington.
Backing Annan, Ivanov told the General Assembly that the UN should lead any global action against terrorism and warned against moves that could erode international law.
"It is necessary to strengthen and enhance the role of the United Nations as an indispensable instrument for maintaining international peace and security and for mobilizing people of the world against new, unprecedented threats," he said.
China's UN Ambassador Wang Yingfan urged all countries to cooperate "and make joint efforts for the sake of their common interests to prevent and combat all forms of terrorist activities."
Cameron Hume, the third-ranking US diplomat, said: "The UN must play an international role in marshaling the international community's long-term efforts to defeat this scourge."
"This is a crucial moment for the United Nations," Hume said. "It has a chance to live up to the ideals on which it was founded. The United States pledges its support to the United Nations."
The new US ambassador, John Negroponte, who presented his credentials last week, was on the list of nearly 60 speakers, but US officials said he had a previously scheduled appointment with the New Zealand ambassador.
The secretary-general did not address specific measures in his speech, but last week he said UN member states must stop providing shelter and logistical support for terrorists, halt the laundering of money used to finance terrorist acts, and share information on terrorists and their organizations.
Annan said Monday he expects the General Assembly at its Oct. 1 meeting on international terrorism to stress the urgency for all nations to ratify, and above all implement, a dozen legally binding conventions.
Hume said the US hopes next week's meeting "will promote unity of purpose and strong steps that the UN can take to combat terror." He gave no indication of what steps Washington was seeking.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS