U.S. refuses to recognize diplomatic asylum of WikiLeaks founder

 WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government on Friday refused to recognize the diplomatic asylum¹ that Ecuador granted to WikiLeaks founder² Julian Assange as the Organization of American States (OAS) is considering convening³ a meeting on the issue.

"The United States is not a party to the 1954 OAS Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and does not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum as a matter of international law," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland in a statement.

"We believe this is a bilateral⁴ issue between Ecuador and the United Kingdom and that the OAS has no role to play in this matter, " she added.

According to the OAS website, the organization is considering convening a foreign ministerial meeting on Aug. 23 in Washington on the issue which has triggered a diplomatic row between Quito and London.

Washington has been furious about Assange's WikiLeaks which in the 2010 disclosed tens of thousands of U.S. war documents relating to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the diplomatic cables.

The 41-year-old Australian has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 19 to avoid extradition⁵.

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino announced his country's decision on Thursday to grant Assange political asylum.

1 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 convening   

召开( convene的现在分词 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• When convening the assembly, however, you shall blow without sounding an alarm. 民10:7但招聚会众的时候、们要吹号、不要吹出大声。
• We warmly welcome the convening of Asia-Europe meeting in London. 热烈欢迎亚欧会议在伦敦召开。

4 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

5 extradition   

n.引渡（逃犯）

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight,awaiting extradition to Britain.这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• He began to trouble concerning the extradition laws.他开始费尽心思地去想关于引渡法的问题。