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China and US Clash Over 'Belt and Road' in Afghan Resolution

Associated Press

   UNITED NATIONS - China and Russia clashed with the U.S. and other
   Security Council members Monday over China's insistence on including a
   reference to Beijing's $1 trillion "belt and road" global
   infrastructure program in a resolution on the U.N. political mission in
   Afghanistan.

   The mission's six-month mandate expires Tuesday and council members met
   behind closed doors for over 2 1/2 hours Monday, unable to agree on a
   text because of China's demand.

   Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, the current council president,
   told reporters afterward that diplomats were working on a new text and
   "we're in the process of reaching a compromise."

   He said the council would meet again late Tuesday morning in hopes of
   reaching unanimous agreement.

   This is the second time in six months that the resolution to keep the
   U.N. political mission in Afghanistan operating has become embroiled in
   controversy over "belt and road" language.

   Resolutions extending the mandate of the Afghan mission for a year in
   2016, 2017 and 2018 had language welcoming and urging further efforts
   to strengthen regional economic cooperation involving Afghanistan,
   including through the huge "belt and road" initiative to link China to
   other parts of Asia as well as Europe and Africa.

   But in March, when the mandate renewal came up, U.S. Deputy Ambassador
   Jonathan Cohen objected, saying Beijing was insisting on making the
   resolution "about Chinese national political priorities rather than the
   people of Afghanistan."

   He said the Trump administration opposed China's demand "that the
   resolution highlight its belt and road initiative, despite its tenuous
   ties to Afghanistan and known problems with corruption, debt distress,
   environmental damage, and lack of transparency."

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