Tale
of Two Chinas, Protest by Tamils, Artist Feted
at UN for Big Paintings and Parents
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, August 3 -- Today's China has many friends, and fewer and
fewer accusers. On East 35th Street in Manhattan on Monday, lonesome
Tamil protesters stood across the street from China's mission to the
UN urging the country to "stop supporting genocide in Sri
Lanka," holding signs that told the International Monetary Fund
to stop "funding China through Sri Lanka."
This last was a
reference to the IMF's recently approved $2.6 billion loan to Sri
Lanka, and to the statement by
the Sri Lanka president's brother than
the country will continue to make payments to China on the weaponry
it bought for its final assault on the Tamil Tigers. The protesters
mused to Inner City Press that perhaps those in the Chinese Mission
couldn't even hear them.
Later
on Monday the
lobby of the UN was full for a reception in honor of an exhibition of
Chinese art by a 26 year old artists, whose parents were described as
helping the UN with its biodiversity display at the Shanghai 2010
Exposition. As coconut encrusted shrimp and white wine were offered
by waiters in tuxedos, UN Under Secretary General Joseph Reed called
himself a long time friend of China.
Another USG,
Ibrahim Gambari who
represents the UN in Myanmar, ran down to the lobby to also pay his
respects. China is an important country, in the UN and elsewhere. To
the former, China increasingly send peacekeepers and police. It has a
major base on Sri Lanka, investments throughout Africa.
As
we have
previously reported, little was said in the UN about the deaths in
Xinjiang in Western China. Turkey's
prime minister claimed his
country would raise it in the Security Council, but it never
happened. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the country and
spoke
about light bulbs, not Uighurs. He or at least his advisors are
worried
China would withheld support for a second term, if in a game
of international poker they gain control of the World Bank, and
Europe gives up the IMF to take over Ban's UN post.
Tamil sign on 35th Street, August 3, 2009, (c) M.Lee
None of these
politics were on display on Monday night. Joseph Reed announced the
presence, as dignitaries, of the senior vice president of the Bronx
Zoo and of representatives of Sotheby's, whom he thanks for their
support of the UN. The deputy chief of the Chinese book club
described the artist as a "slender girl" with "big
paintings."
Big
parents, too, apparently. Her exhibit was
sponsored by the Shanghai Overseas Exchange Association. The protest
of the Tamils, barely audible even from across First Avenue by the
Chinese mission, could not be made out inside the UN lobby. And the
band played on.
* * *
Sri
Lanka's Ethnic Cleansing Bonds Touted by StanChart
and HSBC,
IMF
Silence on Vote Is "Policy"
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, August 2 -- Less than a week after five countries on the
International Monetary Fund's executive board cast rare votes of
abstention and did not support the IMF's $2.6 billion loan to Sri
Lanka, due to the continued detention of 280,000 people in internment
camps in the north, Inner City Press on July 30
asked the IMF to
finally confirm the five abstentions or to explain why it refuses to
disclose the votes of its executive board.
IMF
spokesperson
Caroline Atkinson replied
that "it's just
a matter of our policy not to... it may even be a matter of our legal
requirements... It's a matter for executive board member to disclose
their voting if they wish to. It's not a matter for IMF staff or
management, that's always our practice." But why?
Later
on July 30,
Inner City Press asked the UK's outgoing Ambassador to the UN John
Sawers about the IMF loan, on which the UK abstained. Sawers too
dodged the question, saying "You'll have to ask my colleagues in
Washington about the situation at the IMF board. The loan has been
approved, as you say." Video here,
from Minute 5:34.
After
that, Sawers mentioned the displacement -- that is, detentions -- and
of the "legitimate concerns of minorities, particularly Tamils."
UK-based
banks HSBC and Standard Chartered both gushed about the IMF loan,
without any reference to ongoing internments. The IMF loan "is a
significant positive for Sri Lanka’s external liquidity position
and should further boost sentiment toward the country," Standard
Chartered’s Mumbai-based analyst Priyanka Chakravarty wrote
in a
research report. "It is noteworthy that the final IMF loan amount
is appreciably higher than originally discussed."
Standard Chartered: "inspiration," ethnic
cleansing not shown
Nick
Nicolaou, chief executive officer of HSBC Sri Lanka, pitched
that "the IMF endorsement provides confidence to overseas
investors... Sri Lanka has an excellent story to tell."
Fellow UK bank Barclays, along with HSBC and JPMorgan Chase, was
involved in the Rajapakse administration's October 2007 bond sale in
the run-up to the final assault on North Sri Lanka.
Now
Sri Lanka says
it wants to
raise $500 million more from overseas. Some say that these
bloodbath
bonds are now ethnic
cleansing instruments. Watch this site.
* * *
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