China’s Libya problem
After abstaining from UN vote, country has tough words against military action
Refugees line up in a field covered with garbage as they wait to get on a bus to the Jerba airport at the Tunisian transit camp of Choucha on March 16, 2011. The United Nations said on March 10 that more than 250,000 people had fled Libya to neighboring countries since the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi started in mid-February.
China may have abstained from the UN Security Council’s vote last week to impose a no-fly zone in Libya, but it’s not leaving any doubt where it stands on the current situation.
In strongly worded editorials published Wednesday, state-run media condemned the UN’s military intervention in Libya, saying the United States and other Western powers acted too hastily, without forethought about what a lengthy war in Libya will mean.
“Western supremacist interest has become more prevalent these years,” the Global Times newspaper opined. “In the current Middle East revolutions, Western governments rashly interacted with public opinion and hastily concluded Gaddafi would step down quickly. Now in order to maintain the authority of the West, they have to take the risk of military intervention.”
“China and Russia do not need to help the West find a way out in Libya,” the editorial continued.