Concerns expressed over US 'spying' on UN chief

WASHINGTON — The United Nations has officially expressed to the United States the world body's concern over reported surveillance on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.

"UN officially expressed to the host country its concern regarding recent reports that the communications of the secretary-general and other senior UN officials have been the subject of surveillance and interference by the US government," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Guterres.

"The UN has made it clear that such actions are inconsistent with the obligations of the United States of America enumerated in the UN Charter and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations," he added.

The Washington Post said in a Monday report, citing four documents, two of them previously unreported, that Guterres expressed to the UN officials and world leaders his "outrage" over being denied an opportunity to visit Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region.

According to one spying-related document dated Feb 17 and seen by The Post, Guterres wanted to confront Ethiopian UN Representative Taye Atske Selassie Amde as the country's foreign minister, Demeke Mekonnen, sent Guterres a letter rejecting his planned visit to Tigray amid peace negotiations.

Commenting on this report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said: "In fact, it is not the first time that such scandals of the US are being revealed."

He made the remarks at a regular news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.

According to Wang, the US says it upholds the role of the UN, yet it spied on the UN chief and officials. The US claims itself as a defender of so-called freedom and democracy, yet it used cutting-edge technologies to make an "empire of hacking". The US boasts the protection of information security yet it set IT traps across the world.

"The US should explain to the international community, particularly the UN, for its spying on the UN Secretary-General and other officials, and take concrete actions to fulfill its due responsibility and obligation," Wang said.

The trove of leaked classified documents, numbering hundreds of pages and resulting in the arrest of a US air national guardsman on charges of disclosing classified national defense information without authorization, has seen the United States scramble to assess the damage and restrict access to classified information for certain employees at the Department of Defense.

Surveillance on allies

Other documents recently reported by US media showed the United States has also been spying on allies such as South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.

Asked by Xinhua at a Brookings Institution event on Monday to comment on allegations of US spying efforts and on how Washington should soothe the concerns expressed by its allies, Democratic House Representative Abigail Spanberger refused to comment on "anything specifically that was leaked".

The congresswoman, who prior to becoming a lawmaker worked as an operations officer at the Central Intelligence Agency, praised the US administration's "commitment to safeguarding the information that we collect and our commitment to safeguarding the information (US allies) collect and provide to us".

Mo Jingxi in Beijing contributed to this story.

Xinhua - Agencies