Cluster munitions move a nasty piece of business: China Daily editorial

Well, well, well. On Feb 28 last year, then White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the use of cluster munitions "would potentially be a war crime". But then, such things have rarely troubled the White House, which considers the United States to be a law unto itself.

It was demonstrated once again by US President Joe Biden, who approved the inclusion of cluster munitions in the US' latest $800 million military assistance package to Ukraine. Biden is on a visit to the United Kingdom en route to Vilnius, Lithuania, where he is due to deliver a major speech on Wednesday, "highlighting how the United States, alongside our allies and partners, is supporting Ukraine, defending democratic values, and taking action to address global challenges" at the 74th NATO Summit.

But even the UK, a normally unquestioningly loyal retainer of the US, has qualms about this latest support.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, tactfully, on Saturday that the UK is a signatory to the treaty banning cluster munitions, and "discourages" their use.

Spanish Defense Minister Magarita Robles was even more forthright, saying that while respecting the decisions of a sovereign country, Spain did not support the US decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine, "we are against sending cluster bombs".

And rightly so, as Gilles Carbonnier, vice-president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said at a conference in Switzerland last year: "Cluster munitions remain one of the world's most treacherous weapons."

That is because, "they kill and maim indiscriminately". The munitions also have a high failure rate when deployed, and the unexploded munitions can be detonated by civilian activity years or even decades later.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned on Telegram that the munitions could pose "a great danger to Ukrainians for many years, or up to a hundred years".

His words are both poignant and pertinent as Cambodia was a victim of the US' profligate use of cluster bombs in the 1970s. It was because of the risk to civilians that much of the world has banned the use of these weapons through the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which also prohibits the stockpiling, production and transfer of them. In all, 123 nations have joined that convention, although the US, Ukraine, Russia and 71 other countries have not.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at the White House's daily media briefing on Friday that US officials "recognize the cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm". But he added that Ukraine was running out of artillery and needed "a bridge of supplies" while the US ramps up domestic production.

For the US, Ukraine is its proxy in efforts to weaken Russia, and it is clearly willing to bleed Ukraine to the last drop of blood to achieve that objective.

Not to mention that the US has a stockpile of cluster munitions that it no longer uses after phasing them out in 2016, so it is a convenient, if unscrupulous, way to off-load them.

Whichever way you look at it, it is a dirty and despicable deed.