The war in Ukraine is a delicate file for Beijing. China has been strengthening its diplomatic and economic ties with Moscow for several years, the two countries having the common interest of acting as a counterweight to Washington. Officially neutral, China calls today to respect the sovereignty of States, including Ukraine, while urging the international community to take into account Moscow’s security concerns.
A few days before the first anniversary of the Russian invasion on February 24, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had accused China of considering supplying weapons to Russia – allegations since denied by Beijing.
“A general escalation”
“It’s been almost a year now that the crisis in Ukraine has experienced a general escalation,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday at a conference in Beijing. “China is very worried about this conflict which is intensifying and even getting out of control,” he continued in front of several dozen foreign ambassadors and diplomats.
Beijing also views arms deliveries to Ukraine with suspicion. “We ask the countries concerned to stop throwing oil on the fire as soon as possible and to stop blaming China”, underlines Qin Gang, in particular in reference to the Western calls launched in Beijing in order to put pressure on Moscow. “We will continue to promote peace talks (…) and work with the international community to promote dialogue and consultation, address the concerns of all parties and seek common security,” said the diplomat.
Taiwan as a backdrop
Qin Gang also rejects any parallel between Ukraine and Taiwan, an island that the People’s Republic of China has intended to attach to the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. It is necessary to ‘stop making a fuss while shouting’ Today Ukraine, tomorrow Taiwan’”, insists the minister, responding to concerns about a potential Chinese military invasion of the island territory of 23 million inhabitants.
“The pressures and attempts to contain China from outside are getting stronger” and “pose a serious threat to China’s sovereignty and security,” Qin Gang said. “China has always been committed to the path of peaceful development,” maintains the minister. It has never initiated a conflict or a war, nor invaded an inch of land from another country. »
Meeting with Putin
On the Ukrainian file, Beijing had indicated that it wanted to make public a proposal to find “a political solution” to the war. According to the Russian agency Tass, the head of Chinese diplomacy Wang Yi is expected this afternoon in Moscow. This will be the last leg of a European tour which has already taken him to France, Italy, Hungary and Germany.
Western pressure is mounting on China, which has never publicly supported or criticized the Russian offensive, while repeatedly expressing its support for Moscow in the face of Western sanctions. “Providing lethal support to Russia to help its war of aggression in Ukraine would have real consequences for our relations with China,” Antony Blinken points out.
Words that echo the statements of Kamala Harris, present in Munich this Saturday. The American vice-president had also questioned the neutrality displayed by China. The United States is “troubled by the fact that Beijing has deepened its relations with Moscow since the beginning of the war”, she said. “Any move by China to provide lethal support to Russia would only reward aggression, continue the killings and further undermine a rules-based order,” the vice president continued.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, for his part estimated yesterday that a possible delivery of arms by China to Russia would constitute a “red line” for the European Union. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, has since denied the US allegations, accusing Washington of “spreading false information”. “It is the United States and not China that constantly sends weapons to the battlefield,” he added yesterday.