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WITHTo say goodbye, there was another strong kick: shortly before the end of the German temporary membership in the UN Security Council, the representatives of Russia and China clashed violently with the German ambassador to the UN Christoph Heusgen. In a session on Syria, he criticized that Russia and China, with their blockade in the UN Security Council, would contribute to hampering important deliveries of humanitarian aid to Syria.
The regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad now only allows the delivery of aid through a single border crossing and can always count on the support of Moscow and Beijing in the UN Security Council. Therefore, Heusgen called him “very cynical” when the two permanent members of the UN Security Council complained that aid supplies could not reach Syria.
The German Ambassador to the UN Christoph Heusgen
Source: dpa / Luiz Rampelotto
The UN Security Council “threw” people into Syria, Heusgen complained. Russia not only supports the Syrian ruler Assad in the civil war, but also contributes to the “suffering and death” of the people themselves.
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) this week evaluated two years of German work in the Security Council and criticized the fact that permanent members of the body often block each other. “The Security Council became polarized too often,” Maas said. One of the most difficult moments was when Russia and China almost prevented humanitarian access to Syria.
Such accusations with the finger were not well received by any of the countries. The Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitri Poljanski, responded to Heusgen that if the Security Council lowers the Syrian population it is because of the “hypocritical behavior” of Germany and the West.
And addressed directly to Heusgen, he said: “We will not miss you.” At the end of the year, Germany will leave the most powerful body in the United Nations after two years as a temporary member. Berlin has been trying to get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council for some time.
Moscow has now clearly rejected this. Due to the behavior of German representatives on the Security Council, many UN member states that had previously supported Germany’s permanent membership now wonder whether “so much cynicism” should be allowed in the body, Poljanski said.
Chinese representative Yao Shaojun put Berlin in its place even more clearly. “The appearance of Germany in the Security Council has not met the expectations of the world and the expectations of the Council,” said the Chinese diplomat. Therefore, the German way of becoming a permanent member would be “difficult”.
The German ambassador to the UN, Heusgen, is known for not always appearing particularly sensitive, but has rarely caught such a clear pushback on the open stage. The background for this is a dispute that is almost as old as the Syrian civil war, namely whether a murderous regime like Assad, constantly violating international law, can control aid deliveries, which are also destined for sectors of the population Assad fights bloody.
Assad and his supporters on the UN Security Council have always insisted that aid be distributed through the regime, giving it influence and allowing its own people to receive preferential treatment. Time and again, the West sought arrangements to provide direct aid to those most affected by the civil war. The argument about how many border crossings can be used for this is just the final version of this long argument.
Russia has long been loyal to Assad and has even intervened militarily in the civil war to support him. Moscow’s position in the UN Security Council regarding Assad is therefore very clear. For Beijing, the matter is a bit more abstract. For some time now, the country has positioned itself much more aggressively as the ideological adversary of the West, and therefore sided with authoritarian and anti-Western regimes.
And like many dictatorships, China stubbornly defends state sovereignty and the concept of non-interference in internal affairs against attempts by the West to spread democratic and liberal values. For Beijing, the question of who controls humanitarian aid to Syria is therefore also one of the principles. Ultimately, the point is to avoid precedents for outside interference.
The fact that China is so vocal on the UN Security Council is relatively new. Since President Xi Jinping took office in 2012, the country has been systematically expanding its influence at the UN. China’s contributions to the world body are now second, behind those of the United States. Beijing’s involvement has traditionally focused primarily on development work.
Beijing is negotiating with Moscow
But for some time now, China has also been showing its muscles at the heart of the UN: in the field of peace and security policy. That is why the heart of the UN, the Security Council, is increasingly becoming a focus of attention in China. Beijing is practicing a tactical partnership with Moscow there. In July, Russia and China vetoed more aid deliveries from Turkey to Syria. The draft resolution was submitted by Germany and Belgium.
The irony: despite the human rights violations in its own country and the refusal to improve the human rights situation in Syria, China was elected by the UN General Assembly in October as a member of the Human Rights Council for three years. In the network of 15 specialized UN agencies, the People’s Republic occupies leadership positions in four organizations, more than any other country.
This shows how much the influence of undemocratic regimes has grown in international organizations. A factor that was compounded by the failure of the United States as the leading Western nation in the Trump years. Regardless of the specific issue of the dispute and the long-term trends in international organizations, Moscow and Beijing also appear to have intended to cut Berlin again when they parted ways.
Heiko Maas admits failure of mediation efforts
Unfortunately, due to the tensions between Turkey, Cyprus and Greece, there were no direct talks. Foreign Minister Maas said there were “too many provocations.” Therefore, you will now be advised on the consequences.
Hardly anyone believes that Germany’s application for a permanent seat on the Security Council has any real chance of success. Apparently, Russia and China did not want to miss the opportunity to humiliate Berlin again. And that may have something to do with the change in German attitudes towards Moscow and Beijing.
Since the attempted assassination of Russian opposition politician Alexej Navalny with nerve poison and his treatment in Berlin, the attitude of the German public towards the Putin regime has become much more negative, and criticism of the German government has also sharpened.
The same applies to the relationship with China. Berlin used to treat Beijing only with child’s gloves due to the economic interests of German companies in the gigantic empire. That is also changing now.
The repression of the freedom movement in Hong Kong, which also violates the agreement with Britain to return the former crown colony, has changed public attitudes towards Beijing. And the danger posed by China’s aggressive outreach and technology dominance strategy has also heightened in Germany this year.
It is quite possible that China’s aggressive behavior toward Heusgen in the UN Security Council acts as a deterrent and a preview of what Berlin would have to expect if it takes more critical positions toward Beijing in the future.
