UK stubbornly clings to its colonial sin: China Daily editorial

The 52nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States, 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 who had decided in a 2013 vote to remain citizens of a 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 in asserting that the British presence on the islands is a remnant of colonialism.

Argentina's Foreign Minister Pablo Tettamanti stressed in his response to Tatham's insistence that the islanders should have their say that "those who inhabit the Islands are an implanted population, mainly British, occupying territory of a sovereign state which Argentina has been claiming since Spanish colonial times". He denounced the UK representative for simply repeating "the known positions and policies only accepted by the United Kingdom, against the call of the international community".

The United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization has issued resolutions on the issue more than 30 times urging the UK to engage in negotiations with Argentina to settle the dispute. However, the UK has declined all Argentina's invitations to negotiate. The majority of the international community supports Argentina's claim to sovereignty over the islands — which was given further weight by the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf concluding in 2016 that the islands are located within the territorial sea of Argentina — and they have urged the UK to respect the relevant UN resolutions and correct its colonial wrong.

By making its own policy unalterable over such a long time, the UK is intent on dragging out the dispute in the hope that as long as the status quo is maintained, its actual occupation of the islands can become a fait accompli. However, rather than being diluted, forgotten or legitimized, its colonial sins will only become a longer and more shameful entry in the annals of the world with each year that passes.