Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets along with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Group of 20.
Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty’s paintings
Europe’s top diplomat said the West must remain vigilant about China’s support for Russia, after US officials warned that Beijing could send deadly weapons to Moscow.
The role of China in international politics after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last yr was particularly sensitive for Western countries.
Director of the CIA Bill Burns told CBS News last week that he believes China is considering giving Moscow lethal aid. This might trigger a serious escalation of the war, giving the struggling Russian military a major boost.
“China has all the time told us that they usually are not supplying Russia with weapons, and so they don’t have any plans to achieve this, very clearly,” the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, told CNBC on Friday. “But we definitely have to stay vigilant.”
His comments got here at the tip of a G-20 meeting on foreign affairs in India, which was marked by a transparent division of opinion on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“There may be a giant divide and Russia will proceed the war,” he added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met briefly along with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting, their first personal contact because the invasion began greater than a yr ago. Blinken previously told NBC that there’s information that it’s China “strongly considers giving lethal aid to Russia.”
Meanwhile, Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said last week that if Beijing supplied Ukraine with deadly weapons, it will “incur real costs for China.”
Up to now, China has not categorically denied the accusations.
at press briefing On Friday, Mao Ning, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said the country had made its position clear.
“China’s position on Ukraine has all the time been objective and fair. We’re committed to promoting peace talks and dealing towards a political solution to the crisis,” she said.
“The United States is throwing deadly weapons onto the battlefield in Ukraine and escalating tensions while spreading false and malicious accusations against China. We don’t accept coercion or pressure from the US. What the US should do is facilitate de-escalation and promote peace talks, quite than stoking fires or pointing fingers at other countries.”
China unveiled a 12-point plan to finish the war in Ukraine in February. Authorities in Kiev said they were open to considering a few of these points, but additionally reiterated that any peace deal would need to involve an entire withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.