China has said it is “deeply worried” about the war in Ukraine escalating as the West stands firmly behind Kyiv and Vladimir Putin continues to denounce his enemies. Beijing’s Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, was speaking at a security conference in China’s capital when he made the comments.
He said: “China is deeply worried that the Ukraine conflict will continue to escalate or even spiral out of control.
“We urge certain countries to immediately stop fuelling the fire,” he said in comments that appeared to be directed at the United States, adding that they must “stop hyping up ‘today Ukraine, tomorrow Taiwan'”.
He was referring to fears in both Taiwan and the West that the island nation could be invaded by China in years to come.
China has become a central player in the diplomatic row over Ukraine this week amid reports Beijing is considering providing lethal support to Russia.
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, tried to warn China against such a move earlier this week.
He told CBS: “The concern that we have now is, based on information we have, that they’re considering providing lethal support. And we’ve made very clear to them that that could cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.”
But China hit back at this claim. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said: “The US is not qualified to give orders to China. We will never accept US criticism, even coercion and pressure on China-Russia relations.”
He added that China’s position on Ukraine “can be simply put as promoting peace talks”.
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On Saturday, Wang addressed the Munich Security Conference, and took the opportunity to criticise the US.
He said: “We do not add fuel to the fire, and we’re against reaping benefits from this crisis.
“Some forces might not want to see peace talks to materialise. They don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians, nor the harm on Europe. They might have strategic goals larger than Ukraine itself. This warfare must not continue.”
