China: US blocking Afghanistan assets inhuman

On Wednesday, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations slammed the Biden administration’s action as ruthless.

The state-run China Global Television Network quoted Zhang Jun as saying: “The practice of arbitrarily handling other countries’ overseas assets under domestic law has no precedent.”

At a UN Security Council briefing on Afghanistan, he alleged: “It is a breach of Afghanistan’s national sovereignty and property, and is a serious contravention of international law.”

Last month, President Joe Biden signed an executive order diverting half of the $7 billion Afghan reserves to compensate victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In August last year, when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the US blocked more than $9 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank.

With 22.8 million Afghans facing severe food insecurity, he said the assets represented life-saving money and hope for survival for the Afghan people.

The Chinese diplomat called for the immediate and unconditional return of the assets to the Afghan people in full.