US-China Tensions After Wikileaks Release
The recent release of classified documents by Wikileaks led to tensions between United States and some of the countries whose name appear in the papers. And one of those countries in China, who asked the United States to carefully handle the leakes of secret documents, especially after some of the cables showed that Beijing, seen for a long time as North Koreaʼs most important supporter, would accept a reunification of the Korean peninsula. According to some of the cables published in the last few days, US diplomats explained that China has less and less influence over the regime at Pyongyang and believes that the the ”spoiled childʼs” nuclear programme to be very disturbing.
The Chinse foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, expressed his hope that the United States would properly handle relevant issues, especially as the secret cables appeared amid very tense relations between the two Koreas. Moreover, Hong said that his country does not wish to see any disturbances between the US-Chinse relations, after the classified documents showed that Beijing ignored the North Korean missile part exports and that some high Chinese officials were behind cyberattacks on Google.
The cables sent by American embassies all over the world were published only a week after North Korea bombed an island belonging to South Korea, killing four people and leading to the highest tensions between the two countries in the last half a century. The leaking of the classified documents annoyed diplomats world-wide and were described by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as an attack on the United States and the world. The cables go back as far as 2007 and reveal secret and indiscreet details about the leaders of foreign countries or sensitive international issues.
Thus, the documets say that the Iranʼs supreme leader has cancer and is expected to die within the next months, while the Saudi King Abdullah allegedly asked the United States to attack Iran and put an end to its nuclear programme. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy is named a ”thin-skinned and authoritarian naked emperor”, the Russian Prime-Minister is called the ”alpha-dog” of the international policy and the Afghan President Hamid Karzai is said to be ”driven by paranoia”.
No wonder that the publication of the classified documents angered everyone. A spokesman of the frech government named the leak as the ultimate degree of irresponsability, while Afghanistan does not consider that the relations with the US will suffer, despite the way the Afghan president is described in the classified papers. In the Middle East, a senior Israeli official believes that disclosing such information does not affect Israel’s image and the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast urged the Arab countries not to listen to the US cables and it is nothing but a trap. In some of the documents several Gulf countries asked America to organize a military strike against Teheran.
As for Julian Assange, the creator of Wikileaks, he described the leak as a diplomatic history of the United States covering every major issue. But now he face charges of espionage, as the American authorities think that he had violated US law by publishing the classified documents. But there are countries who welcomed the cables and even offered him a 39-year-old sanctuary. An investigation in still ongoing in the United States, sources saying that that the FBI is investigating all those involved in the disclosure of such documents, from those who offered the diplomatic notes to members of Wikileaks.
