China urges U.S. to return assets to Afghanistan

BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's Foreign Ministry on Friday urged the United States to unconditionally return assets belonging to the Afghan people and take concrete actions to repair the damage caused to them.

Global Times, an English-language Chinese newspaper, launched an online petition on Thursday, calling on the U.S. government to give back the "life-saving money" to people in Afghanistan.

When asked to comment on the petition, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing that the petition received signatures from over 200,000 netizens within 24 hours. He said this proves that what the United States has done to Afghanistan is piracy, and it has enraged the public.

Calling the United States the culprit of the Afghan issue, the spokesperson said more than 30,000 innocent civilians were killed during the Afghan war started by the United States and about 11 million people have become refugees.

The irresponsible withdrawal of its forces by the United States has created a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, with 22.8 million people facing starvation and 3.2 million children under five suffering malnutrition, the spokesperson said, citing figures of the World Food Programme.

At this critical moment, the United States did not shoulder its due responsibility to help the Afghan people alleviate their humanitarian crisis. Instead, it openly plundered the country's assets, further aggravating the suffering of the Afghan people, Wang said.

He noted that the U.S. behavior has proved the essence of the so-called rules-based international order as touted by the United States is actually the order of power politics for the purpose of maintaining U.S. hegemony.

"We call on the United States to immediately and completely lift the 'freeze' on Afghan assets in the United States and unilateral sanctions, unconditionally return assets belonging to the Afghan people, and take concrete actions to repair the damage caused to the Afghan people," Wang said.