During the last U.N. Security meeting, Germany’s U.N. envoy begged China to release two detained Canadians for Christmas. This prompted China’s deputy U.N. envoy to respond by saying: “Out of the bottom of my heart: Good riddance.”
Germany will complete a two-year term on the 15-member council at the end of December and Ambassador Christoph Heusgen will to retire after over 40 years as a diplomat.
While making the appeal, during the council session, Heusgen said: “Let me end my tenure on the Security Council by appealing to my Chinese colleagues to ask Beijing for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Christmas is the right moment for such a gesture.”
After Heusgen’s appeal, China’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador, Geng Shuang, said Heusgen was abusing the Security Council to carry out “malicious” attacks on other members “in an attempt to poison the working atmosphere”.
Geng said: “I wish to say something out of the bottom of my heart: Good riddance, Ambassador Heusgen.
“I am hoping that the council in your absence in the year 2021 will be in a better position to fulfil the responsibilities…for maintaining international peace and security.”
Also, Heusgen advised Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy to peruse articles about Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who disclosed he had deceived a Russian secret agent into revealing the details of a unsuccessful plot to assassinate him. Russia’s FSB security service labeled the recording as a fake.
Polyanskiy replied: “It seems he’s developed a certain dependency on the council, there’s never a meeting without criticism of Russia even if that’s not suitable for the subject matter. I hope that after January 1 that Christoph’s symptoms will improve.”
