KABUL (Pajhwok): China has again lashed out at the United States for freezing and misappropriating the Afghan central bank’s assets.
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.
PAN Monitor/mud
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