China’s President Xi says he is ‘pained to see the flames of war reignited in Europe’ and urges ‘maximum restraint’ in Ukraine in latest sign Beijing does not back Putin’s barbaric invasion
- Xi joined Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz on a conference call today
- He said the situation in Europe is ‘deeply worrying’ but failed to condemn Russia
- China said it wants to mediate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine
- Click here for MailOnline’s liveblog with the latest updates on the Ukraine crisis
President Xi Jinping has said China is ‘pained to see the flames of war reignited in Europe’ in the latest sign Beijing does not support Putin’s savage war in Ukraine.
The leader of the Communist Party said the situation is ‘deeply worrying’ in a virtual meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz today, saying the three countries should all support peace talks.
China had been seen as a bellwether on whether Russia’s invasion would spark similar territorial conflicts elsewhere, with Xi wanting to stake his claim on Taiwan.
President Xi Jinping joined Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz on a virtual call today in which they discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
China had been seen as a bellwether on whether Russia’s invasion would spark similar territorial conflicts elsewhere
The superpower abstained in UN votes to condemn Russia’s actions and has refused to label it an invasion.
But noises from Beijing appear increasingly critical of the war without explicitly condemning Putin’s barbarity.
China said today it will send humanitarian aid to Ukraine and called on France and Germany to help reduce the global impact of the crisis.
But in a sign of Xi’s alliance with Putin, he also expressed concern about the impact of sanctions on the wider world.
He said: ‘Regarding the impact of sanctions on global finance, energy resources, transport and supply chain stability, in terms of a world economy already burdened by the pandemic, it is harmful to all sides.’
The superpower abstained in UN votes to condemn Russia’s actions and has refused to label it an invasion
China’s friendship with Russia was strengthened last month when Putin attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics on the same day that the countries declared a ‘no limits’ strategic partnership.
About 30 percent of oil and gas produced in Russia now sold to China.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing was open to helping mediate peace and stressed that the friendship between Beijing and Moscow was still intact.
He said: ‘The friendship between the two peoples is rock solid, and both sides’ future cooperation prospects are very vast.’
China said today it will send humanitarian aid to Ukraine and called on France and Germany to help reduce the global impact of the crisis
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing was open to helping mediate peace and stressed that the friendship between Beijing and Moscow was still in tact
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But he said China was ‘willing to work with the international community to carry out necessary mediation, when necessary’.
Wang also spoke with the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Monday, Chinese state media said.
Wang said China ‘laments’ the situation in Ukraine and urged the EU to engage in ‘sincere dialogue’ with Russia over European security.
Borrell had said last week that China should mediate future peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as Western powers cannot fulfil the role, in an interview with Spanish daily El Mundo.
The Chinese foreign minister described the China-Russia relationship as ‘the world’s most crucial bilateral relationship’, which ‘is conducive to world peace, stability and development’.
He referred to last month’s China-Russia partnership commitment as ‘clearly and unmistakably showing the world’ that both countries ‘jointly oppose the revival of the Cold War mentality and stoking ideological confrontations’.
This month, Russian gas giant Gazprom said it had signed a contract to design a pipeline to China, taking a step towards a new supply agreement that could ease Russia’s reliance on European buyers.
And Russian banks said Sunday they planned to issue cards using China’s UnionPay system after Visa and Mastercard moved to suspend operations amid unprecedented sanctions on Moscow.
Once bitter Cold War rivals, China and Russia have moved closer than ever since President Xi Jinping took power nearly a decade ago, driven by their shared desire to confront US power.
Wang said their informal alliance would ‘not brook interference by third parties’, in a warning to the United States and its Western allies who in recent days have lobbied China to play a more active role in mediating the conflict.
Australia’s prime minister has called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ‘a moment of choice for China’, pressing China to shape the actions of its Russian ally and prove that Beijing is committed to global peace.
‘No country would have a greater impact right now on Russia’s violent aggression towards Ukraine than China,’ Scott Morrison told think tank the Lowy Institute.
Wang said the ‘Taiwan issue is fundamentally different from the Ukraine issue’ and added that Taiwan will ‘eventually return to the motherland’s embrace’.
‘Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory and the Taiwan issue is entirely China’s internal affair,’ Wang Yi said.
‘The Ukraine issue is a dispute between the two countries of Ukraine and Russia.’
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