Under the threat of canceling the supply of a vaccine from coronavirus from Beijing, Kyiv publicly refused to act in defense of the Uyghurs and human rights

Last Saturday, June 26, many Russian media published news with reference to the exclusive Associated Press, which the agency got a day earlier.

The original message was about the fact that diplomats from the two Western countries, not authorized to discuss the issue publicly,, on the terms of anonymity, shared with the April details of the procedure in which official Kyiv behaved not in the best way. Namely: at first he signed, and then withdrew the signature under the document proposed by Canada at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. With this statement, 44 states insisted on the immediate admission of independent observers to the Chinese province of Sinjiang, where gross violations of the rights of Uyghur-Muslims and other ethnic minorities continued. Ukraine did not stay for a long time with the 45th signator.

The UN claims: in Chinese labor camps, in inhuman conditions, a million Uyghurs are contained on the “re -education”, and physical and moral violence is applied to them. The United States call the actions of the Chinese authorities in relation to the Uyghurs by genocide. Last year, the EU, the USA, Canada and the UK have already turned to the topic: sanctions on China were imposed. Beijing immediately gave a symmetrical answer to Brussel.

Now anonymous Western diplomats shared the information that

The Chinese government “pressed” the Ukrainian authorities and put forward an ultimatum: if you do not withdraw the signature, we block the supplies of a contracted vaccine from coronavirus - and this is half a million doses.

One of the sources of AP called this technique as an example of “undisguised” behavior, which China is not for the first time to minimize the attention of the international community. Another confirmed: “The Ukrainian delegation told us that they need to leave” ( at a consultation? - O. M. )

The Associated Press emphasized: “The situation may still change. According to the practice of the Council consisting of 47 members, the signatures can be added to statements or resolution within two weeks after the end of the session. ”

At the same time, according to the news agency, the representative of Belarus initiated the appeal - allegedly agreed with 64 states - that it is unacceptable to violate China’s sovereign right to manage their territories, for example, Hong Kong or Sinjan, as the Chinese leadership considers it necessary. The representative of the Council said that Belarus did not provide a list of countries that supported her initiative.

I had to answer for the words?

After a day, the news reached Ukrainian information tapes.

By that time, the Associated Press Agency received a written response from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which said: “We are welcome to Kyiv’s decision to abandon his signature, under a statement at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, but Beijing supplies other countries without any political conditions.” It was not possible to find out whether the pressure was carried out, the mediaers were not carried out - the website of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine did not mention a single word about the incident.

But on June 24, a message was published there about the 10-year anniversary of the strategic partnership with the PRC, which emphasized (quoted): “Ukraine appreciates the relations of strategic partnership, the non-destructive foundation of which is non-interference in China’s internal affairs and mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial independence and integrity.” Yes, and the past year confirmed: China again took first place among the trading partners of Ukraine. The turnover, in comparison with 2019, increased by a quarter and amounted to $ 15.4 billion. The export of Ukrainian goods to China broke records, in fact doubled - $ 7.1 billion, the import of Chinese goods to Ukraine reached 8.3 billion.

At a press conference on the occasion of the 10th anniversary, China's Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianzhong said that the governments of both countries are now preparing to sign a visa-free regime between China and Ukraine. And if you still recall that the first anti-icing vaccine entering the country in April 2021 was precisely the Chinese drug Coronavac, which was expected, like the manna of heavenly ...

At the beginning of the year, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleb conducted a telephone conversation on the epidemiological situation with the Chinese colleague of Van I. “We consider the issues of cooperation regarding the vaccine not just as an intergovernmental agreement, but as an interaction between our peoples,” Kuleb said. The Chinese minister agreed with him in all respects: the sovereignty of Ukraine, its territorial integrity and independence are unshakable, the course of development chosen by Ukrainians is also. “The PRC further intends to support Ukraine in the fight against Covid - until the pandemic is completely overcome,” Van and the Interfax -Ukraine agency quoted. I had to answer for the words?

The head of the relevant committee of the Rada, Alexander Merezhko, a deputy from the Presidential Party “Servant of the People”, in the commentary “Radio Liberty” ( Roskomnadzor demands to apply the definition of “Foreign Agent”. - Ed. ) Recognized that the Committee has no information about the recalled signature.

“The answer is very simple. This is some kind of unofficial information. For me, a link to "diplomatic sources" is not very clear. What exactly does it mean? What sources are in mind? " - Merezhko discussed with himself.

The source of the "New" in the same committee spoke more definitely:

- If this ( a message about the pressure of China and the recalled signature. - O. M. ) was not true, we would already have seen a refutation from the ministry. A double mistake is obvious. Therefore, they are silent: they do not know how to get out of the situation. They did not calculate the reaction of China. One could not join co -authorship ... But silence hits the position of the Ukrainian side, which rightly declares violation of civil rights and freedoms in the occupied part of Donbass and in Crimea and complains that the world does not hear! And if he hears, he still resorts to double standards in relations with Russia. An example with the Northern Stream - 2 is very indicative ... Yes, here from whatever side you are - everything is bad. According to the data that I have, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry lost to the arguments from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health.

"The choice between Uyghurs, vaccine and position in Belarus"

About whether the current information storm will damage the damage to the international image of Ukraine, the correspondent of Novaya Gazeta in Kyiv questioned the human rights activist Maxim Butkevich, the coordinator of the project “Without borders”:

“At sessions of the UN Council for Human Rights, the planned topics are usually discussed, about which research was conducted,” Butkevich recalled. - The current session is no exception. I have to study its materials in order to claim that the issue was considered in a planned manner, and everyone had enough time to think about it.

Despite the fact that I never acted as a defender of certain Ukrainian authorities, rather, on the contrary, I must say: I am even sorry for our Foreign Ministry. They got into such a “fork” ...

If we take as the basis that the situation is stated by the AP reliably, then, on the one hand, the actions of China are not news. Over the years, in the relationship of Beijing with other countries of the world there are several sensitive topics: Tibet, Taiwan, “Falun Dapa” (“Falungun”). Supporters of this movement almost every day go with posters at the beginning of Lutheran street on Khreshchatyk, begging Ukrainians about interference and protection. But any sign of abroad attention immediately causes a strict reaction of Beijing. Later, two more were added to the “sick places” of the Chinese authorities - Hong Kong with protests and the position of the Uyghur population of Sinjiang.

For some time now, the point of view has become popular that China is so large in the economic sense, and not only in the territorial and in terms of population, and so confidently, dynamically develops that it does not give a damn, what they think and speak in the world about the listed topics. "Speak, say, you don't bother us!" The current story showed: no, not anyway. Oddly enough, this is good. So, it makes sense to publicly criticize, discuss, analyze the Chinese People’s Republic for violation of human rights.

And blackmail-yes, one of the unacceptable, but constantly used methods in relation to those who are dependent on some extent.

And the Ukrainian authorities had to choose between the interests of their citizens and at the same time be silent about violations of human rights in China or publicly support the Uyghurs, demand, together with the West, to let independent international observers and leave half a million Ukrainians without a vaccine.

The situation is terrible ... And it doesn’t matter whether Ukraine will be signed again or not, although time remains. The scandal has already acquired a different scale.

Here is a question of such an interesting coupling - about an alternative statement, where attempts to intervene in the internal affairs of the PRC are condemned. Information was posted on the UN Human Rights Council: China publicly thanked Egypt for approving the resolution in support of China. But the country that reported the appearance of this document was Belarus, its official representative! You can’t imagine on purpose ...

What is happening in Belarus, right beyond our northwestern border, I am now not only about mass repressions from the Lukashenko regime, but also about landing the aircraft with Protasevich, for example, we cannot react to this. And Belarus acts as an international lawyer of the PRC, that is, also puts pressure on Ukraine. And here the choice is not between Uyghurs and the vaccine, but between the position of Belarus with its violations of human rights, Uyghurs and half a million vaccines. It has become even more complicated.

The Ukrainian diplomats still have to say something. Silence is not a way out.

PS without casting doubt on the accuracy of the information received and released by the Associated Press, I note: as of Sunday, on the official website of the Canadian government, Ukraine continued to remain among the signatures of the application - under number 42.