China is increasingly aggressive on the Malvinas /Falklands impasse: “The UK stubbornly clings to its colonial sins.”

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The lead editorial of China Daily’s 6 October 2022 edition, a newspaper belonging to the Chinese Communist Party editorial. It refers to the recent Organization of American States declaration supporting Argentina’s claims of the Malvinas / Falkland Islands’ sovereignty.

The 52nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), which concluded in Lima, Peru, on Friday, approved a declaration defending Argentina’s “legitimate rights” over the Malvinas Islands and supporting a “peaceful and negotiated” solution to the dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom over sovereignty of the islands.

The UK had called on the OAS to “recognize the right to self-determination” of the Islanders. They had decided in a 2013 vote to remain citizens of British Overseas Territories and members of the British Family. And UK representative Michael Tatham claimed in the OAS meeting that the UK wants to work “constructively” with Argentina, but Argentina “must accept that there can be no dialogue on sovereignty unless the people of the Falkland Islands decide they want to”.

But as OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro said, the resolution reaffirms “what the organization has historically expressed”. The OAS has been steadfast in upholding Argentina’s “inalienable territorial rights” over the Malvinas Islands and asserting that the British presence on the islands is a remnant of colonialism.

Time is running for a peaceful settlement.

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