Pompeo's smears stick to Washington

Judging from his furious remarks after China voted for a Russia-sponsored United Nations Security Council draft resolution on humanitarian aid to Syria on Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo really needs to carry out a reality check.

Any objective and impartial observer would conclude that contention over the Russian draft and another competing draft resolution proposed by Belgium, Germany and Kuwait was largely technical. After all, the vote itself was clear evidence that members of the UN Security Council care about the humanitarian issue in Syria and want to extend a helping hand.

Yet as both resolutions failed to be approved by the Security Council, the top US diplomat wrongly pinned the blame on China and Russia, and even went further to say China and Russia have blood on their hands and their actions are "shameful".

Pompeo's alarmist rhetoric is neither based on truth nor on reason. And his country having waged more than many large or small-scale wars in the wake of World War II, Pompeo really is not in a position to criticize others.

There is no need to look back any further than the past two decades to gauge how much suffering the US wars have brought to people in various countries. According to a CNN report last week, more than 38,000 civilians have been killed in the US war in Afghanistan since 2001.

Moderate estimates show the number of civilians killed in the US war in Iraq had exceeded 100,000 by the time of US withdrawal in 2011. As for Syria, statistics show that from August 2014 to May 2019, the international coalition led by the US launched more than 34,500 airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq, killing over 1,300 civilians.

As such, Pompeo should reflect on which country has blood on its hands and not ignore the blood-stained statistics created by his own country while falsely accusing China and Russia of blocking humanitarian aid to Syria.

China supports the active work of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and other international humanitarian agencies. It has also provided Syria with food, medicine, education, training, public services and other assistance through multilateral and bilateral channels.

But China insists the humanitarian operation must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as the recipient country. It is the US that needs to reflect on how much it has done and is doing for the well-being of the Syrian people.