2023-11-01 21:13:00
Time.news – Peace is like a Lu Ban Lock, o Luban o “Kongming locks”, the ancient Chinese puzzle made up of six to fifteen removable pieces, a game in which concave and convex parts must fit together. “When you break it, it’s difficult to put it back together”. The phrase with which Chinese ambassador Zhang Ju inaugurated China’s month-long presidency of the UN Security Council indicates that the path to peace in the Middle East and Ukraine is complicated like the mahogany-colored wooden puzzle invented more than 2500 years ago by the Chinese carpenter Lu Ban and shown to the media, the same as in 2014 by then Chinese President Li Keqiang gave it to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a visit to Berlin.
At the end of the press conference, filmed by media cameras, including Time.news, the ambassador manages to insert the last piece and recompose it, but after his assistant had put it back in place, cleverly leaving the last piece to ambassador. True peace, however, remains a much more difficult puzzle to solve and the message today is that nothing at the UN may change in the coming weeks.
Regarding the stalemate in the Security Council, incapable of approving a peace resolution in Gaza, after the rejection of the American proposal, blocked by the veto of China and Russia, and the two Russian proposals sunk in the Council also with the American veto, there seems to be no space , at the moment, for a third way. “The priority – explained Zhang, answering journalists’ questions – is the ceasefire, the other issues are less important”.
The other issues would be the official condemnation of Hamas, requested by the United States, and the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, as the UN Secretary General António Guterres has requested from the beginning. China simply says it wants one “resolution that is a strong message”, but at the same time freezes the expectations of Israel, which is against the ceasefire, commenting: “we have heard louder voices in the world who are in favor of the ceasefire”. Those who expected that with the assumption of the presidency China could take a step backwards were quite disappointed.
“It will be an inclusive presidency,” says the Chinese representative, but without indicating how much and on what? Zhang confirmed himself as affable and willing to answer questions, but also skilled at not exaggerating. “It is not just our moral duty to find peace – reiterates the ambassador – you must ask others too”. There remains concern that the conflict in the Middle East will spread, but in an hour of conference there is no sign of hope.
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