{"id":365142,"date":"2022-03-29T06:04:36","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T20:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=365142"},"modified":"2022-03-29T06:04:36","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T20:04:36","slug":"fsms-panuelo-appeals-to-xi-to-call-for-cessation-of-hostilities-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/fsms-panuelo-appeals-to-xi-to-call-for-cessation-of-hostilities-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"FSM\u2019s Panuelo appeals to Xi to call for cessation of hostilities in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"
Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo signs his letter to China President Xi Jinping, wherein he solicits China\u2019s support in asking the Russian Federation to cease hostilities and withdraw from Ukraine. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALIKIR, Pohnpei<\/strong>\u2014Federated States of Micronesia President David W. Panuelo has written to People\u2019s Republic of China President Xi Jinping, soliciting China\u2019s support to call for the Russian Federation\u2019s withdrawal from, and cessation of hostilities in, Ukraine, and further to put the world at large on a path to peace.<\/p>\n

The text of Panuelo\u2019s March 28, 2022, letter is below and a PDF to the diplomatic note can be found here: https:\/\/gov.fm\/files\/President_Panuelos_Ltr_to_President_Xi_Jinping.pdf <\/p>\n

\u2022\u2022\u2022 <\/p>\n

President Xi, <\/p>\n

I write to you today with humility in my heart. At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity is in need of champions for peace. Nations must work together now to lead us into the paths of peace. <\/p>\n

Approximately one month ago, the Russian Federation brutally invaded Ukraine without provocation or justification. In the month of war so far, the Russian Federation has engaged in numerous war crimes, including the murder of innocent civilians and the destruction of infrastructure such as hospitals and schools. There have been reports of white phosphorous and other extraordinarily harmful material being used for no reason other than to extinguish precious human lives; and, of course, the Russian Federation has frequently raised the specter of using nuclear weapons. There is no nuance in Russia\u2019s behavior; they are choosing to act as villains. <\/p>\n

Due to our nation\u2019s unwavering commitment to peace, friendship, cooperation, and love in our common humanity, we felt it was necessary to demonstrate our firm protest of the Russian Federation\u2019s unnecessary war and invasion of Ukraine by severing our diplomatic relations with them until such a time that the Russian Federation can show an actionable commitment to these values. Our country knows all too well what it\u2019s like to be controlled by foreign powers, whether it be the Spanish and German Empires in the 19th century, the Japanese Empire after World War I and prior to World War II, or the American Empire shortly thereafter. In other words, nations have forgotten the lessons learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in the two world wars. Nations have disregarded the commitments we have made for the world community. We have betrayed peoples\u2019 dreams of peace, and the hopes of the young and the vulnerable. We have stopped being our neighbors\u2019 keepers and stewards of our common humanity. <\/p>\n

The Federated States of Micronesia is committed to peace, and recognizes and appreciates that China feels precisely the same way, because China fought\u2014with diplomacy, not weapons\u2014at the United Nations for our country to become sovereign and internationally recognized, among other countries. <\/p>\n

It is increasingly clear to the Federated States of Micronesia that the Russian Federation\u2014perhaps due to its historical and ideological differences with the United States of America and its partners\u2014 has no interest in ending its war in Ukraine any time soon, despite increasing pressure from the U.S. and Europe. It is even possible that the more the U.S.-side and European-side increase their pressure on the Russian Federation that the latter will only feel more empowered to engage in violence. <\/p>\n

I believe now is the appropriate time for the People\u2019s Republic of China to demonstrate its global leadership by calling on the Russian Federation to cease hostilities and withdraw from Ukraine. I am advised that this would be consistent with the 2013 PRC-Ukraine Treaty of Friendship & Cooperation, whose Articles 5, 6, and 7 describe China\u2019s and Ukraine\u2019s commitments to each other, including the unwavering support of China\u2019s territorial integrity on behalf of Ukraine, and China\u2019s support of Ukraine\u2019s territorial integrity. <\/p>\n

President Xi, speaking personally and frankly, of all the reasons I do not like Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine it is because it suggests that war between countries is something that can still happen today. It would be my preference that all countries embrace peace. The Chinese, as paragon examples of peace, friendship, cooperation, and love in our common humanity, I believe can and should rise to the occasion to call for the cessation of hostilities. While I worry that the Russians and Americans will not listen to each other, I am convinced that both of them would listen to China, and I also believe that China taking on this leadership role would be in the interest of both the Federated States of Micronesia and the global community of nations.<\/p>\n

President Xi, I take this opportunity to first thank you for considering my request, and secondly to reaffirm our nation\u2019s firm and unwavering commitment to our great friendship.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALIKIR, Pohnpei\u2014Federated States of Micronesia President David W. Panuelo has written to People\u2019s Republic of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":365144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[169,478,14358,772],"class_list":["post-365142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-china","tag-fsm","tag-russian-federation","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}