The Washington Post - 20.08.2019

A8 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, AUGUST 20 , 2019

The World

SRI LANKA

U.N. ‘deeply troubled’

by new army chief

Sri Lanka’s president on
Monday appointed a general
accused of grave human rights
abuses in the final stages of the
country’s long civil war as the
new army chief, a move that a
top United Nations human rights
official said is likely to affect
contributions to U.N.
peacekeeping missions.
Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva,
who was also promoted to the
rank of lieutenant general, was
in charge of the 58th Division,
which encircled the final bastion
of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the
last stages of the civil war in

Rights groups have
accused the division of violating
international human rights laws,
including shelling a hospital.
Silva’s appointment comes as
President Maithripala Sirisena
and his government face
criticism that they failed to heed
warnings ahead of suicide
bombings in April. The attacks,
carried out by local Islamist
extremists who had pledged
allegiance to the Islamic State,
killed more than 260 people.
Silva has denied attacking the
hospital in the final stages of the
civil war.
The government declared

victory over the rebels in May 2009, ending the Tamil Tigers’ 26-year campaign for an independent state for minority ethnic Tamils. Both the military and the rebels have been accused of wartime abuses. A statement Monday quoted U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet as saying that she was “deeply troubled” by Silva’s appointment. “It undermines reconciliation efforts, particularly in the eyes of victims and survivors who suffered greatly in the war. It also sets back security sector reform, and is likely to impact on Sri Lanka’s ability to continue contributing to UN peacekeeping efforts.” — Associated Press

SUDAN

Saudis gave Bashir millions, court hears

Former Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir told investigators that he received about $90 million from Saudi Arabia before his ouster, a detective testified Monday on the opening day of Bashir’s landmark corruption trial. Bashir, who has been detained since the army overthrew him in April, is accused of crimes including the illicit possession of

foreign currency. He did not speak publicly or enter a plea during the two-hour hearing. Police Brig. Ahmed Ali said Bashir told investigators that the money was received without the knowledge of Sudan’s Finance Ministry or national auditor. A long-running alliance between Saudi Arabia and Sudan was strengthened in recent years when the African country

became one of the major contributors of troops to the Saudi-led war against Iranian- backed rebels in Yemen. The kingdom initially stood by Bashir when protests erupted over an economic crisis in December. Shortly after the military took charge, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledged a combined $3 billion in aid. The opening of the trial marks

the latest watershed in nine months of mass protests, violence and political uncertainty. Sudan’s main opposition group and ruling military signed a deal Saturday to divide responsibilities and form a technocratic government for three years before elections. Bashir is accused of possessing more than $8 million in foreign currencies for the purposes of trading. Members of Sudan’s opposition and international advocacy groups say Bashir’s crimes extend beyond any financial irregularities and are demanding that he face justice for alleged rights abuses during his reign. — Bloomberg News

Thousands flee wildfire on Canary Islands: An out-of- control wildfire in Spain’s Canary Islands that was throwing flames 160 feet into the air forced emergency workers to evacuate more than 9,000 people, authorities said. The blaze was racing across parched woodlands into Tamadaba Natural Park, regarded as one of the jewels on Gran Canaria, a mountainous volcanic island in the Atlantic Ocean archipelago off northwest Africa. Gran Canaria and its capital are popular European vacation destinations, but the blaze was in a rugged inland area.

Unidentified disease prompts culling of pigs in Philippines: The Philippines’ agriculture secretary said an unspecified number of pigs have died or been culled in backyard farms in recent weeks and a crisis team has been established to try to contain the still-unidentified disease causing the swine deaths. Lab tests on blood samples of affected pigs are underway. William Dar could not say whether the culprit was the contagious African swine fever, which has led to the deaths and culling of nearly 5 million pigs in Asia. African swine fever is harmless to people but fatal for pigs, with no known cure.

Son, brother of Guatemalan leader acquitted in graft case: A court in Guatemala acquitted a son and brother of President Jimmy Morales in a corruption case that slashed his popularity and precipitated the country’s expulsion of a corruption commission supported by the United Nations. Samuel “Sammy” Morales, the president’s brother and adviser, and José Manuel Morales, the president’s eldest son, were accused of defrauding the land registry of $12,000 in 2013, using false invoices, before Morales was elected. — From news services

DIGEST

FRANCOIS MORI/ASSOCIATED PRESS A crew works near fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral to sweep up any lead left on Paris streets from the April blaze that decimated the cathedral’s roof and toppled its spire. Specialists shoring up the structure returned Monday for the first time in nearly a month, this time in protective gear after a delay spurred by contamination fears.

BY MICHAEL BIRNBAUM

prague — The mayor of this
capital city was shaking hands
down a line of diplomats when the
Chinese ambassador to the Czech
Republic did something decided-
ly undiplomatic.
He strode to the front of the
line, pushing past puzzled envoys
holding champagne flutes, and
demanded that a top Taiwanese
diplomat be asked to leave the
mayor’s reception — in deference
to the one-China policy — or he
would walk out himself.
“There is only one China. I am
the ambassador,” Ambassador
Zhang Jianmin later recounted to
The Washington Post. “I tried to
point out the mistake that he
made, and I advised him to cor-
rect the mistake.”
But Mayor Zdenek Hrib knew
what he was doing. He had
worked at a teaching hospital in
Taiwan while training to be a
doctor and was well aware of
China’s claim on the island. He
refused to accommodate Zhang’s
request. “I explained to him we
don’t kick out guests that we’ve
invited,” Hrib told The Post.
The Chinese ambassador left.
Months later, even as Beijing is
embroiled in a trade war with the
United States and facing protests
in Hong Kong, Chinese officials
and the Czech mayor are still
sparring. The feud offers an espe-
cially raw example of how Beijing
is trying to flex its muscles in
Europe — with little tolerance for
objections.
China has been investing in
Europe in conjunction with its
broadly defined Belt and Road
Initiative. And it has focused spe-
cial attention on Central Euro-
pean countries.
“They’re looking for a way to
project their political influence,”
said Czech Foreign Minister
Tomas Petricek.
For many European Union de-
cisions, each country has an equal
vote, meaning China needs to win
over only a few leaders to nudge
E.U. policy in a favorable direc-
tion.
The Czech Republic previously
held China at arm’s length. The
late president Vaclav Havel, a hero
for leading Czechoslovakia out of
communism, was deeply cautious
about Beijing when he was in
office, said Pavel Fischer, a mem-
ber of the Czech Senate and a
former Havel adviser.
As Havel sometimes said about
China, “Even an elephant will rec-
ognize the courage of a small bird
and change his posture,” Fischer
recalled.
But China has been able to
make inroads since Havel’s death
in 2011.
Czech President Milos Zeman
has met with Chinese President Xi
Jinping eight times — an unusual
amount of face time for the leader
of 10 million people.
Zeman has welcomed Chinese
investment and tried to position
his country as China’s portal to
Europe. He even appointed a Chi-
nese business tycoon, Ye Jian-
ming, as an economic adviser. Ye,
the chairman of energy company

CEFC China, proceeded to buy stakes in a Prague soccer team, a brewery, an airline, a media company and an investment bank. Meanwhile, China hired former Czech ministers and other retired politicians to press its case in Prague. “They’re trying to rearrange the political arrangements to be more conducive to Chinese inter- ests,” said Martin Hala, director of Sinopsis, a group that studies Chi- nese influence in Central Europe. “Some systems are more resilient than others.” The relationship has hit some serious bumps. Ye, the adviser to the Czech president, has not been seen since March 2018, when he was arrest- ed in China for unclear reasons. A top executive at Ye’s nongovern- mental organization, the China

Energy Fund Committee, has been convicted in a New York court for bribing officials in Chad and Uganda. And Ye’s energy company has been absorbed into a Chinese state-owned company. With Ye gone, the Czech presi-

dent has indicated some disap- pointment with Chinese promises that have failed to materialize. “I consider the absence of large Chinese investors a stain for Czech-Chinese cooperation,” Ze- man told China’s CCTV broad- caster this year.

Other Czech policymakers have taken a tougher approach toward Beijing. Ultimately, it is Prime Minister Andrej Babis, not Zem- an, who is responsible for setting Czech foreign policy. And Babis leans more in the direction of

President Trump than toward China. China’s Huawei and ZTE are being phased out from Czech government agencies and the country’s mobile networks after the Czech Republic’s cybersecurity agency issued a warning.

The risk from China is “unam- biguous,” said Michal Thim, the senior China analyst at the Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency. “Such an impor- tant system as the mobile network could be taken down in the most extreme threat.” Zhang, the Chinese ambassador, appealed to Babis. The Chi- nese Embassy later posted on Facebook that Babis had prom- ised to set things straight. The prime minister denied saying any such thing, and the breach of diplomatic etiquette infuriated the Czechs. “There might have been some misunderstanding,” Zhang said. But the agency’s warning “ruins the atmosphere of cooperation,” he said. And then there’s the Prague mayor, who has stood in opposi-

tion to Zeman’s Beijing overtures. Hrib, 38, a member of the in- surgent Pirate Party, said in an interview in Prague’s art nouveau city hall that he just wants to promote the best policies for his city. All the same, he has em- braced his fight with Beijing. In March, he reinstituted the practice of flying the Tibetan flag from city hall in honor of the 1959 uprising. He allowed an exhibi- tion on city property commemo- rating the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He hosted the leader of Tibet’s exiled government and made an official visit to the Taiwanese capital, Taipei. And he has called for Prague to renego- tiate its 2016 sister-city agreement with Beijing, removing the acknowledgment of the one-Chi- na principle, which states that China, Taiwan and Tibet are a single country that should be ruled from Beijing. Hrib said it’s not a city’s place to recognize countries. He acknowledged that he de- veloped sympathy for Taiwan while studying and traveling there. He keeps a Taiwanese tea set on his desk, underneath a gigantic map of Prague. The Prague-Beijing fight has had collateral damage. China canceled a 14-concert tour by the Prague Philharmonic that had been scheduled for the fall. Orchestra leaders say Chinese officials asked them to issue a statement condemning the mayor and embracing the one-China policy. When they refused, the tour was called off, leaving a 10 percent hole into the orchestra’s budget. “It’s because we have ‘Prague’ in our name,” said Iva Nevoralova, an orchestra spokeswoman. “We really don’t want to have anything to do with politics.” Petricek, the Czech foreign minister, said that the fight “cer- tainly does raise some questions about the prospect of further Czech-Chinese relations, where our cooperation goes.” Beijing has issued its own warning. “What they did has severely hurt the sentiments of the Chi- nese people and undermined the good atmosphere for bilateral relations,” Foreign Ministry spokes- man Geng Shuang said last month. He demanded that they “correct their wrongdoing as soon as possible and not recklessly damage overall China-Czech relations. Otherwise, their own inter- ests will be harmed at the end of the day.” Hrib offered no apology. The “one-China policy does not mean that you will do exactly everything that China says,” he said. He noted that when Prague city leaders originally signed the sister-city agreement with Beijing, it was with the hope that the Prague Zoo would get a panda. There’s still no panda. But he said Taipei has offered pangolins. [email protected]

Ladka Mortkowitz Bauerova contributed to this report.

A Czech mayor pushes back against Beijing

The feud illustrates how China’s investments in Central Europe come with strings attached — and little patience for objections

MICHAL CIZEK/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES People wave Chinese flags during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Prague in 2016. Czech President Milos Zeman has met with Xi eight times.

MICHAEL BIRNBAUM/THE WASHINGTON POST An exhibit this month on the grounds of the Czech Senate in Prague commemorates the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.

MICHAEL BIRNBAUM/THE WASHINGTON POST Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib, who spent time in Taiwan while training to be a doctor, keeps a Taiwanese tea set in his office.

The “one-China policy does not mean that you will

do exactly everything that China says.” Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib

The Washington Post - 20.08.2019

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