MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Timnerman underlines Beijing’s support in UN Falklands’ presentation

The new minister also picked up a fight with Argentina’s main dailies

Argentina’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman said that China expressed “strong support” for Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Falklands and other South Atlantic islands, but was disappointed by the bias coverage of the Buenos Aires press.

Following the Thursday presentation before the UN Special Committee on Decolonization, “the UN Chinese representative approached me to express strong support on the Malvinas sovereignty claim and reinforce the friendship between both countries”.

“We were tough on the Malvinas sovereignty issue, which was presented as a case of British colonialism” said Timerman who added “on top of that, we added the accusations of the potential environmental damage that the current hydrocarbon exploration round in Malvinas waters might cause”.

Timerman complained that the strong Beijing support for Argentina’s Malvinas claim was “ignored” by much of the Argentine media. He was particularly furious with Clarin and La Nación which apparently asked for a press conference but “to talk about domestic policy”.

“I thought it was disrespectful, considering everything that happened at the UN. As years go by, more and more countries support Argentina's claim over the Malvinas,” he expressed.

“The UN Chinese representative approached me to offer his support” Timerman stated, and added that “even though they support us every year this was the first time they offered it in a loud and clear voice”.

The Minister said the Chinese representative also gave him a letter from the Chinese Foreign Minister stating that “he hoped both ministries and governments kept working together, but, --he underlined-- the media decided to ignore that”.

Mr. Timerman’s attack on the Buenos Aires press seems very much in line with the attitude of Argentine president Cristina Kirchner and her husband and former president Nestor Kirchner, who are in an open relentless campaign to break up what they describe the “media monopolies” of Clarin and La Nacion, branded as “enemies” of their administrations.