History will condemn veto on ceasefire

Editor's Note: The following are excerpts of remarks by Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Fu Cong on the UN Security Council draft resolution on a Gaza ceasefire on Wednesday. The resolution was vetoed by the United States that day, with the rest 14 members of the UNSC voting in favor.

The US veto has pushed Gazan people further into darkness and desperation. We cannot imagine how the vote today, as well as the Council's failure to respond to the Gaza conflict over the past 13 months, can escape the harsh judgment of history.

When the US cast its first veto on October 18 last year, nearly 3,000 civilians had been killed in Gaza. By the time the US cast its second veto, 17,000 people had been killed as a result of Israeli bombardments. With the continued use of its veto, when the US cast its fifth veto on April 18 this year, the death toll in Gaza had surged to 34,000.

Now, nearly 44,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and the US still has not hesitated to use its veto. Forty-four thousand! This is not just a number. Behind it are children, nursing mothers, and the breadwinners for families. The loss of each and every one of them means eternal pain for the surviving relatives. People cannot help but ask: do Palestinian lives mean nothing? Can the deaths of 44,000 people not win even a little bit of sympathy from the United States?

The UN Security Council is mandated under the UN Charter to shoulder the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. It is incomprehensible that for the past year or so, the US has been so insistent in rendering the council incapable of playing its role, leading to its paralysis.

The US has claimed to be conducting parallel diplomatic efforts and has repeatedly promised that progress would be made soon in the negotiations. But to date, the so-called diplomatic negotiations have been going in circles. Why is Israel allowed to continue its military operations while constantly putting forth new conditions for negotiations? Israel has flagrantly breached every red line of international humanitarian law, with its actions causing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster. But even as a famine is about to break out in Gaza, the US always seems to be able to find justification to defend Israel.

This represents a distortion and selective disregard of the application of international humanitarian law. People never knew before how low one could stoop in terms of a double standard. No wonder people feel angry. Their indignation also stems from the fact that the continued supply of weapons from the US has become a decisive factor for the war lasting so long, causing so many casualties and so much destruction.

All hostages must be released. An immediate and unconditional ceasefire must be established. Both are important. There should be no preconditions attached, and the two things should not be linked to each other. Israel's military operations in Gaza have long exceeded the scope of rescuing hostages. Insistence on setting preconditions for a ceasefire is tantamount to giving the green light to prolong the war and condone the continued killing.