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China: Why did China veto sanctions against Zimbabwe?
14 Jul 2008 12:18:39 GMT
Written by: Global Voices
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
GlobalVoices
Earlier this year China sent a boatload of weapons to Zimbabwe just following the country's controversial presidential election. Following accusations of political violence and then the re-election of President Mugabe, China teamed up with Russia at the United Nations Security Council last week to veto sanctions being placed against Mugabe and his supporters.

Indie blogger Ruan Yifeng has chosen to write about the veto on his blog, beginning with pointing out just how significant this incident has been internationally as evidenced by widespread Western media coverage, how the English-language news reports he was able to find were for the most part critical of China, and how unclear he is of just what it is that's happened, and what kind of place Zimbabwe even is.

Starting from there, he digs up some numbers on current inflation rates there, the cost of living, the economic situation, some background on President Mugabe, and a brief explanation of the reasons for the recent post-election violence, as well as posting a map:

不难判断,津巴布韦是一个很混乱很混乱的国家,事实上已经处在内战边缘了。

[…]

æ-¢ç„¶è¿™ä¸ªå›½å®¶æœ‰å†…战,为什么中国不同意武器禁运å'¢ï¼Ÿ

事实并不像外交部å'言人说的那样简单,实际上,中国在津巴布韦有很深的利益存在。

It's not hard to see, Zimbabwe is a very, very messed up country. In fact, it's already on the brink of civil war.
[…]
Since the country has civil strife, why then would China not agree to ban arms shipments?

It's actually not as simple as the Foreign Ministry spokesperson puts it, because in fact China has very invested interests in Zimbabwe.
And further down:

ç"±æ­¤å¯è§ï¼Œä¸­å›½å·²ç»å¾ˆæ·±åœ°å·å…¥äº†æ´¥å·´å¸ƒéŸ¦å†…æ"¿ï¼Œå®Œå…¨è¿èƒŒäº†â€œä¸å¹²æ¶‰ä»–国内æ"¿â€çš„原则。åŒ-京在为穆加贝æ"¿åºœå‡ºé'±ã€å‡ºæžªã€è®­ç»ƒå£«å…µã€‚在这种情况下,否决è"合国制裁决议,å½"然是再正常不过了。

#171;兵。在这种情况下,否决è"合国制裁决议,å½"然是再正常不过了。

[…]

在这里,æˆ'不去猜测,为什么åŒ-京会æ"¯æŒç©†åŠ è´ã€‚æˆ'只想引ç"¨Peking Duck的一段话,指出这两者之é-´æœ‰å¤©ç„¶çš„吸引力。

From this you can see, China has already deeply vested itself in Zimbabwe's domestic affairs, completely violating the principle of ‘non-involvement in other countries' domestic affairs'. Beijing is putting up money, guns and military training for the Mugabe government. Under these conditions, of course it would veto the United Nations sanctions resolution.
[…]
Now, I'm not going to speculate why Beijing supports Mugabe. I'd only like to quote one bit from Peking Duck, which points out the natural mutual attraction these two sides share:
[Ruan's translation into Chinese]

More-and-more China is being seen as a threat to the hopes and plans of democracies around the world.

中国越来越被看作,是对全世界æ°'主自ç"±çš„一种威胁。

Chinese politicians are viewed as attempting to spread the theory of economic success through a strong and autocratic central state, which could convince the leaders of poor states without strong rule of law to reverse fragile democratic laws and cement their rule with the excuse that it would make their economies better.

中国æ"¿æ²»å®¶å¥½åƒæ­£åœ¨å°è¯•,散æ'­ä¸€ç§ç†è®ºï¼Œé‚£å°±æ˜¯å¦‚何在保持ä¸"制统治的前提下,取å¾-经济成功。这使å¾-那些穷国的领导人相信,不需要推行æ°'主,并ä¸"以仿效中国经济成功为借口,来加强他们的独裁统治。

;œ€è¦æŽ¨è¡Œæ°'主,并ä¸"以仿效中国经济成功为借口,来加强他们的独裁统治。

真的就是这样,独裁者都äº'相爱惜,ä¸"制æ"¿æƒéƒ½äº'相喜爱。æˆ'想,在心底里,åŒ-京可能更愿意与一个独裁者æ‰"交é",而不是与一个æ°'主æ"¿åºœæ‰"交é"。君不见这次奥运会火炬传é€',所有æ°'主国家都å'ç"Ÿäº†æŠ-议,所有ä¸"制国家都一切顺利。

4;»æ"¿åºœæ‰"交é"。君不见这次奥运会火炬传é€',所有æ°'主国家都å'ç"Ÿäº†æŠ-议,所有ä¸"制国家都一切顺利。

更有ç"šè€…,åŒ-京可以通过扮æ¼"“独裁者的朋友”的è§'色,来与美国谈条件,为自己æ¸"利。åŒ-韩核危机就是一个绝佳的例子。

《圣经》里说:“惟愿公平如大水滚滚,使公义如江河æ»"æ»"。”(But let justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream! )中国这个国家,不仅自己国内没有公平å'Œæ­£ä¹‰ï¼Œè¿˜é˜»ç¢ä»–国å'Œä¸–界上广大å-压迫人æ°'的公平å'Œæ­£ä¹‰ã€‚æˆ'作为一个中国人,真的感到非常é-憾å'Œæ- å¥ˆã€‚

7;žå¸¸é-憾å'Œæ- å¥ˆã€‚

That's exactly how it is, dictators everywhere admire each other just as authoritarian regimes love one another. I think, from the bottom of my heart, that Beijing is far more inclined to deal with dictators that it is democratic governments. What you might not have seen during this Olympic torch relay is that that protests took place in all the democratic countries, yet in all the authoritarian countries, everything went smoothly.

What's more, while Beijing plays the role of “friend to the dictators” in negotiations with the US, it also stands to gain from the spoils. The North Korean nuclear crisis is a perfect example.

It's written in the Bible: “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream!” China, this country, not only does lack fairness and justice domestically, but it even blocks fairness and justice in other countries and widely oppresses their people. As a Chinese, I feel extreme sorrow and helplessness.

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