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Alex Lo

US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker must have mistaken China for his boss, Donald Trump. After all, it was the US president who kept saying he could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last week, Whitaker claimed Beijing could stop Russia’s war in Ukraine in a day if it wanted to.
“China could call Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” he said. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas. You know, this war is being completely enabled by China.”
Unlike Trump, Beijing has never claimed such superpower diplomacy. But just for argument’s sake, how does Whitaker envision that phone call would go?
• Hey, Vlad, Xi here.
• Hi, bro, good of you to call. Happy Lunar New Year!
• Look, Vlad, I am sorry to say this, but you gotta end this war in Ukraine.
• Why, what’s it to China when you won’t give me any weapons while the Europeans and Americans have been arming Ukraine to the teeth? Even little brother Kim has given me some troops and bombs. You give me nothing!
• You just have to do it. Otherwise, I will stop buying oil and gas and cut off tech supplies, even microwave ovens. The Americans say even those ovens have dual military use.
• Well, Xi, I will try to tell the lads at the defence ministry to withdraw the troops tomorrow. They won’t like it, though.
It may be far more realistic for Whitaker to call the White House to end the war. After all, a CNN report actually counted the number of times Trump made the claim about ending the war in 24 hours, or variants of it, during his last presidential campaign: a whopping 53 times. Trump really meant it.
But don’t blame Whitaker for saying silly things. Practically all the Nato and EU top “leaders” – Nato chief Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and her deputy and foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas – have repeatedly blamed China for the Ukraine war. Sure, and my dog Victor causes cancer.
For some time now, it seems you have to be intellectually and morally challenged to float to the top in Europe.
Speaking of being morally challenged, several major European governments have been pressuring the United Nations to demand the resignation of UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian rights Francesca Albanese.
Germany, France, Italy and the Czech Republic claim Albanese called Israel a “common enemy of humanity”, apparently referring to something she said at a conference in Doha on February 7. It’s not clear why that should concern those countries individually, let alone in concert, even if she had said it. But the fact is, she didn’t.
Albanese spoke for about four minutes via a video link. Reuters and France 24, a public broadcaster, reviewed the transcript and found she did not make the statement. It was a fabricated quote.
The joint European complaint came after Washington sanctioned Albanese, an unprecedented act against a UN official, in July when she named and shamed 48 Western companies – including Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon – for business transactions that allegedly aided Israel in the displacement of Palestinians and its genocidal war in Gaza, in breach of international law.
By the way, those US tech giants all have big contracts with the US military, and/or law enforcement agencies. And Washington complains about the Chinese military links of DeepSeek, Xiaomi, Tencent and CATL. Perhaps they sell batteries, games and smartphones to PLA soldiers?
Washington has also sanctioned judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court for issuing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as for probes into the US military in Afghanistan.
Both the UN and Albanese have rebutted the latest European accusation. “We are very worried. We are concerned that UN officials, independent experts and judicial officials, are increasingly subjected to personal attacks, threats and misinformation that distracts from the serious human rights issues,” UN human rights office spokesperson Marta Hurtado said.
“Three European governments accuse me – based on statements I never made – with a virulence and conviction that they have NEVER used against those who have slaughtered 20,000+ children in 858 days,” Albanese wrote on social media, referring to the estimated number of children killed during Israel’s war in Gaza.
“A lie was exposed. Instead of retracting it, the SYSTEM that enabled the genocide, attacks the messenger. France knows it stepped in something foul, but pride forbids correction: the archives are ransacked for any stray word. Others repeat the falsehood. The Inquisition is back.”
Of course, there was not a single word from those same European countries when an investigation by Al Jazeera Arabic found 2,842 documented cases of Palestinians who were “evaporated” during the war that started in October 2023, leaving behind at most blood spray or small fragments of flesh.
They were likely victims of internationally prohibited thermal and thermobaric weapons, also known as vacuum or aerosol bombs, capable of generating intense heat exceeding 3,500 degrees Celsius. They were mostly supplied by the US. More than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. A ceasefire is supposed to be in place, though civilian casualties continue to mount.
Imagine what those same European countries and the US, and their righteous news media, would say if China was suspected to have used thermal and thermobaric weapons to wipe out a whole village of Muslim Uygurs in Xinjiang. But of course, China commits genocide not by bombing, but by building freeways, high-speed rail, schools, hospitals and renovated mosques. Call it genocide with Chinese characteristics.
This is Europe now, the self-proclaimed moral and democratic beacon of the world. As Mahatma Gandhi was once asked what he thought about Western civilisation, “That would be a very good idea,” was his reply.


China and the UN are not the problem in Ukraine and Palestine – the West is

Social media’s ‘becoming Chinese’ trend can only be a force for good

TikTok deal good for Chinese owners but terrible for users in the United States

How to prevent war with China: return Taiwan to the mainland

My Take

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese. Photo: AFP

US lawmakers urge Pentagon to add DeepSeek, Xiaomi to China military-linked firms list

A letter, from US lawmakers asks for AI firm DeepSeek and other Chinese companies to be put on what is known as the Section 1260H list. Photo: Reuters


US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth at a Christmas service at the Pentagon on Wednesday. Photo: Getty Images

As transatlantic divorce plays out in Munich, China enjoys the silence

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addresses a session of the Munich Security Conference on February 14. Photo: Reuters

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meet on the margins of the Munich Security Conference on February 14. Photo: AFP

China and US must talk – we owe it to the world, Rubio tells Munich Security Conference

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the highest-ranking US speaker at the annual security conference this year. Photo: AP

Farewell to the ‘unipolar moment’: Europe scrambles for footing between US and China

Meeting in Munich on Friday are (from left) China’s Wang Yi, Germany’s Johann Wadephul and France’s Jean-Noel Barrot. Photo: DPA

Opinion

Europe and America’s warmongering and genocide-enabling are at the roots of the world’s most dangerous geopolitical flashpoints


Europe and America’s warmongering and genocide-enabling are at the roots of the world’s most dangerous geopolitical flashpoints.


Germany

Italy

Ukraine

Palestinian Territories

Russia

China

France

United States

Israel

Czech Republic

Vladimir Putin

Donald Trump

Benjamin Netanyahu

Xi Jinping

Yoav Gallant

Francesca Albanese

Mark Rutte

Ursula von der Leyen

Tencent Holdings

Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL)

Al Jazeera

Microsoft

Xiaomi

Amazon

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}My Take | China and the UN are not the problem in Ukraine and Palestine – the West is

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Europe and America’s warmongering and genocide-enabling are at the roots of the world’s most dangerous geopolitical flashpoints

My Take | China and the UN are not the problem in Ukraine and Palestine – the West is

Europe and America’s warmongering and genocide-enabling are at the roots of the world’s most dangerous geopolitical flashpoints