Confrontation, unilateral action and interference in the internal affairs of States must yield to dialogue, cooperation and adherence to international law, world leaders stressed today as the General Assembly high-level debate continued, as the shortcomings of the current international system in addressing global challenges are manifest.
Sergey V. Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, condemned the United States’ wars of aggression in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya, which claimed many hundreds of thousands of lives. From its adventurism in the Middle East to its goal of subjugating Asia, Washington, D.C., is trying to turn the entire world into its own backyard. Promising its military support, Washington is playing with fire around Taiwan. On its quest to spread the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the East, he said Moscow warned the West that it was unacceptable to bring its military infrastructure closer to Russian borders. For NATO, Moscow is “an immediate threat on their way to total domination”, he said, noting that, for the Anglo-Saxons, Ukraine is just expendable material in the fight against the Russian Federation.
Moscow believed the promises of Western leaders not to expand NATO in the East, he stated. It even agreed to legitimize the bloc by signing the Founding Act between the Russian Federation and NATO, he stressed, detailing Russian history of non-interference. However, the West watched in silence as members of the 2014 coup started bombing Eastern Ukraine, and he highlighted Moscow’s role in stopping Kyiv’s neo-Nazis in the region. He emphasized that it was the incapacity of Western countries to negotiate and the continued war by the Kyiv regime against its own people that left Moscow with no choice but to recognize the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics and start a special military operation.
Vladimir Makei, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belarus, similarly pointed out that NATO expanded eastward despite previous agreements, trampling on the vital principle that one party must not seek its own security at the expense of others. The collective West bears the responsibility for the ongoing bloodshed in Ukraine, he stressed, recalling that such States refused to consider proposals from their opponents that sought to establish security in Europe. The West wants to create a unipolar world, ruled from one hegemonic centre, but neo-colonialism is no longer an acceptable or viable option. Calling for a paradigm shift similar to the Copernican revolution of knowledge, he stressed that the world is too complex to reduce all its problems to a confrontation between “democracies” and “autocracies”.
Expressing support for the peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine, Wang Yi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of China, urged all parties to keep the crisis from “spilling over” and — more broadly — warned against instigating proxy wars. Describing Taiwan as an “inseparable part of China’s territory since ancient times”, he said the “One China” policy has become a basic norm of international relations. “Any move to obstruct China’s reunification is bound to be crushed by the wheels of history,” he asserted, emphasizing that China must combat separatist activities with the firmest resolve and take the most forceful steps to oppose external interference.
Abdoulaye Maïga, Prime Minister ad interim of Mali, also spotlighting this form of intrusion in the ongoing transitional process in his country, decried France’s decision to unilaterally withdraw its military forces from Mali. The French junta — nostalgic for new colonialist and vengeful practices — repeatedly violated Malian airspace and provided information and arms to terrorist groups. “How many Africans died for France,” he exclaimed, recalling the French intervention in Libya and the forced participation of thousands of Africans in the First and Second World Wars. In this context, he requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council to enable Mali to present evidence of the attacks and violations committed by the French army.
Carlos Faría Tortosa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, similarly detailed attempts to destabilize his country, along with the imperialism and supremacism that led to unnecessary bloodshed in Iraq, Haiti, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Syria. The global North, he stressed, must recognize that “the unipolar, colonialist system cannot adequately respond to the problems and needs that they themselves have created”. Rejecting all provocation and economic sanctions against the Russian Federation, he urged countries to prioritize diplomacy and dialogue over military confrontation.
Spotlighting the temptation of unilateralism, Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore, stressed that global security depends on upholding the fundamental principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Small States in particular, he emphasized, cannot allow the world to regress to one where “might is right”. The only way forward is to uphold the inclusive, rules-based multilateral system and, in this, he spotlighted the adoption of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which brought order and predictability to ocean governance. While not perfect, the multilateral system is the best option for addressing transnational challenges and managing global commons.
Echoing that, Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, underscored that the world will be dominated by force if it is not governed by rules. While there have been problems, conflicts and mistakes in the post-World War order, wars of territorial expansion have not been allowed. The Russian Federation’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, she stressed, “was a rude awakening to how the world might look if the ability to destroy — rather than the capacity to create — is allowed to determine the fate of nations”.
Ann Christin Linde, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, recalling her Government’s decision to apply for NATO membership on 16 May, stated that security is best built together with others. The countries of the Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament have presented ideas to heed the Secretary-General’s call to bring disarmament and non-proliferation back to the top of the international agenda. She also highlighted other cooperative international efforts to address global challenges, such as key decisions taken by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to advance climate security and the European Union’s substantial contributions to global vaccination.
Amery Browne, Minister for Foreign and Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, said that his country, in its 60 years of independence, has anchored its multilateral engagement on the founding purposes and principles of the United Nations. Noting that it has nurtured the same by maintaining a tradition of democratic governance that respects human rights and promotes the rule of law, he stressed that “the people of my country cannot accept any unilateral attempt to violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States”. Spotlighting the valuable, beneficial and necessary perspective that small islands bring to the world, he called for building a truly global community: “Together we aspire. Together we achieve”.
Also speaking today were Heads of Government and Ministers of the Bahamas, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, North Macedonia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Albania, Viet Nam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, India, Bulgaria, Egypt, Azerbaijan, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Brunei Darussalam, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Haiti, Guinea and the United Arab Emirates, along with the Secretary of State and Head of Delegation for the Holy See.
Source: UN General Assembly