中文
By Bradley Blankenship
On February 6, a terrible earthquake occurred in Türkiye and Syria, claiming over 3,000 lives. The international community has been quick to offer its condolences and assistance – but these gestures have been marred by geopolitics.
For example, the European Commission tweeted, "A powerful earthquake struck Türkiye overnight, also impacting neighbouring Syria." It went on that rescue teams from over 10 countries have been mobilized to help Türkiye "following its request to activate the #EUCivPro Mechanism." An accompanying video briefly mentioned Syria at the end as part of its "ongoing humanitarian assistance" – but only serving as an afterthought.
U.S. President Joe Biden said, "I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria. I have directed my team to continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with Turkiye and provide any and all needed assistance."
Here we can see that Biden mentioned Syria but failed to offer any rescue and support, showing that the dehumanization of Syrians through war and sanctions continues on. The U.S. continues to illegally military occupy Syria and regularly steals the country's vital oil.
I spoke to a Syrian journalist friend, Majd Fahd, about the response to his country's plight from the West. "So far, Germany and Spain have offered assistance to Syria. Nonetheless, the country is in critical condition nowadays because of the sanctions [imposed by the West]. I guess now is the time to lift the unjust blockade imposed on Syria as soon as possible. Sanctions only impact average people," he said.
That's a sentiment I find hard to disagree with. Sanctions are only starving ordinary people there and making humanitarian aid during disastrous earthquakes more challenging to come by. When tragedy strikes our fellow humans, our natural inclination is to help. The sanctions imposed by the West undermine the essential human will for compassion. They dehumanize Syrians.
And what's most sinister about this situation is that it can be argued that nearly a decade of war is, in practice, less devastating for the country than the newest round of U.S. sanctions. In fact, that is troublesome while even neighboring Lebanon has become destabilized due in no small part to the ongoing events in Syria.
My friend Majd added,"the U.S. and NATO are delivering billions of dollars in heavy weapons to keep the war raging in Ukraine but can't muster any humanitarian aid for Syria." Again, it's hard to argue with that. For Western countries to assist Syria and would be a drop in the bucket to what is spent to keep the collective war machine alive and yet these countries can't break the cycle.
But, just because the West has abandoned Syria does not mean the international community at large has done so. On the opposite hand, the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry made another statement. According to them, "President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad respectively over the deadly earthquake in Türkiye and Syria."
Media reports in China suggest that Beijing would support both countries. Xu Wei, the spokesman for the China International Development Cooperation Agency, was quoted as saying, "China is willing to provide emergency humanitarian assistance in accordance with the needs of earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria."
China is demonstrating its commitment to south-south cooperation and peaceful development. The country would help any country at any time when the need arises, and without political strings attached. China doesn't impose illegal unilateral sanctions, doesn't launch regime change operations or stage proxy wars. Actually, China hasn't been involved in any war for several decades.
These deep-seated values are reflected in China's actions today with regard to Türkiye and Syria. Beijing can help both countries, which are linguistically, culturally and politically different, while paying them both respect and maintaining their humanity.
Bradley Blankenship is a Prague-based American journalist, political analyst and freelance reporter.
