China’s week of mixed messages in Europe
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ILL WIND BLOWING
This week brought a sharp reminder of the party-state’s mushrooming influence in international organizations. An investigation by Madrid-based Safeguard Defenders highlights ties between the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and China’s National Supervision Commission (NSC). This runs the secretive extra-judicial “liuzhi” system into which thousands disappear every year: an odd choice of partner for an international body that condemns arbitrary detention and forced disappearances. A spokesman for the Vienna-based UN body tells us that the deal “does not foresee” operational cooperation and the UNODC wouldn’t object to making it public.
China’s personal and institutional clout in the UN bureaucracy has been growing for years. The pushback is overdue.
But a record 40-plus countries did back a US-led motion criticizing China at last month's UN Human Rights meeting in Geneva. The party-state is fuming and details are emerging about some of the arm-twisting it employed: the AP reports that Ukraine withdrew its support when China threatened to curb vaccine delivery. (China denies this).