BEIJING: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China on Thursday to help defuse tension over Iran, North Korea and other global flashpoints, seeking to salvage talks that have been overwhelmed by negotiations over a dissident.
In her opening remarks to the two-day US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Clinton pressed China on human rights but avoided mention of Chen Guangcheng, a blind rights activist who sought protection in the US embassy until he left under a deal to stay in China - a deal he later said he regretted.
Despite the uproar, Clinton said the United States hoped China would help rein in the nuclear activities of North Korea and Iran, and pressure the Syrian government to halt violence.
“On Iran, the United States and China share the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” Clinton told US and Chinese officials gathered in the Chinese capital.
“It is critical that we keep the pressure on Iran to meet its international obligations, negotiate seriously, and prove that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes,” she said.
China is a major buyer of Iranian crude oil, and has resisted US demands for sanctions threatening energy flows.
China has also resisted calls from Washington and its Asian allies for stronger pressure on North Korea, its neighbor and long-time ally that recently launched a rocket that the UN Security Council said violated sanctions.
Clinton said Washington and Beijing should “work together to make it clear to North Korea that strength and security will come from prioritizing the needs of its people - not further provocation.”
But the uproar over the dissident Chen hovered over the opening of the US-China talks.
Chen left the US embassy on Wednesday after Washington said it had won assurances from Beijing about his safety following his escape from 19 months of captivity in his home.
But Chen later said he feared for his safety and wanted to leave for the United States.
“Of course, as part of our dialogue, the United States raises the importance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Clinton said in her remarks.
“We believe all governments have to answer our citizens’ aspirations for dignity and the rule of law and that no nation can or should deny those rights.”
Clinton urges China to help on Iran, North Korea
Clinton urges China to help on Iran, North Korea
Sudanese man jailed in UK for murdering asylum hotel worker
- Deng Chol Majek followed Rhiannon Whyte, 27, to a railway station in October 2024
- He stabbed her 23 times to the head, chest and arm with a screwdriver
LONDON: A Sudanese asylum seeker was jailed on Friday for a minimum of 29 years for murdering a woman who worked at the hotel in central England where he and other migrants were being housed.
Anti-immigration activists have seized on other criminal cases involving asylum seekers, predominantly young men, in hotels to argue that they are a danger to nearby communities.
Last summer, a number of protests at asylum hotels across England – sparked by the arrest of an Ethiopian asylum seeker for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman – turned violent.
The Labour government, nervous of the rise of the anti-immigration Reform UK party in opinion polls, has promised to clamp down on illegal immigration and, by 2029, to stop placing asylum seekers in hotels while their cases are processed.
Deng Chol Majek followed Rhiannon Whyte, 27, to a railway station in October 2024 after she finished her shift.
He stabbed her 23 times to the head, chest and arm with a screwdriver. She died in hospital three days later.
Majek was convicted in October and sentenced on Friday to life imprisonment with a minimum of 29 years at Coventry Crown Court, where some anti-immigration protesters gathered outside for the hearing.
Judge Michael Soole said the murder was “particularly vicious” and told Majek there had been a “chilling composure in every aspect of your behavior.”
