US, Britain and India remain silent about death of China ex-president

A round of condolences for China at a United Nations Security Council meeting on November 30, after the death of former president Jiang Zemin, put into sharp relief the fraught state of relations between Beijing and the US, India and Britain.

Serving as the council’s president for the month of November, the head of Ghana’s mission to the UN, Ambassador Harold Agyeman, expressed “deepest sympathy” to Beijing on behalf of the Security Council before it voted on a resolution declaring the proliferation of nuclear weapons “a threat of international peace and security”, South China Morning Post reports.

While the resolution passed unanimously, Agyeman and delegates representing Russia, Mexico, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and three others prefaced their remarks with condolences, but those representing Washington, Delhi and London did not.

As of late afternoon on November 30, the US State Department had not issued any official statement about Jiang’s death, nor had Delhi or London. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

The three nations’ silence contrasted with the EU, where European Council President Charles Michel tweeted his “sincere condolences”.

Michel, who is due to arrive in Beijing on December 1 for meetings with China’s top leadership, including President Xi Jinping, has come under criticism from some of his bloc’s lawmakers for making the trip.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Nato allies in Bucharest, Romania, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was “working to increase Nato’s resilience for the future as it faces new challenges, including those posed by China”.

He also referred to a Nato meeting in June during which the members said Beijing was a “systemic challenge to Euro-Atlantic security”.

“The members of our alliance remain concerned by [China’s] coercive policies, by its use of disinformation, by its rapid, opaque military build‑up, including its cooperation with Russia,” Blinken said in Bucharest.