US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that China was considering arming Russia in its war against Ukraine. Beijing said the claims were false and accused Washington of spreading lies. If anything, China has called for “peace-loving “nations to act to end the conflict
On 19th February 2023, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, a Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, to discuss the Ukraine conflict. He stated that “China has always stood on the side of peace and dialogue and has always insisted on urging peace and promoting talks.”
As the Russia-Ukraine war approaches the one-year mark, Wang Yi also stated, “China stands by principles and does not wish to see any escalation in the conflict between the two countries.”
“We do not want to see the crisis in Ukraine prolonged and expanded and are willing to work with the international community to avoid further deterioration of the situation and persistently strive for peace,” Wang added.
Furthermore, in response to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stating that China was considering arming Russia in its war against Ukraine (CBS News), Beijing said the claims were false and accused Washington of spreading lies. If anything, China called for “peace-loving “nations to act to end the conflict. Wang also stated that China had “neither stood by idly nor thrown fuel on the fire” for the Ukraine war. (Reuters)
I suggest that everybody starts to think calmly, especially friends in Europe, about what kind of efforts we can make to stop this war,” Wang said. Moreover, he stated that there were “some forces that seemingly don’t want negotiations to succeed, or for the war to end soon”, but did not say whom he meant.
Blinken’s remarks come ahead of a scheduled visit by Mr Wang to Moscow, as part of the Chinese foreign policy chief’s tour of Europe, for talks about Ukraine and other issues, what could be a precursor to a trip to Moscow by Xi.
China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement that the China-Russia partnership “is established on the basis of non-alignment, non-confrontation, and non-targeting of third parties,” and that the U.S. was adding “fuel to the fire to take advantage of the opportunity to make profits.”
According to analysts (BBC News), it is time for countries to collectively bring a change because the US’ careless actions in this circumstance demonstrated it doesn’t care if the crisis would end in peace or not. It seems likely that post the Munich conference, US-China relations continue to move towards a downward trajectory pulling the strained ties to a new low.
