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• Chinese government rejected the imposition of sanctions on Russia
• China wants to maintain its trade relations with Ukraine and Western Europe while strengthening its alliance with Russia
China’s foreign minister refrained from providing a definitive answer when questioned about Russia’s move to attack Ukraine and placed the blame on the US for fanning the flames.
While the rest of the world condemned the attack as soon as it took place, China’s assistant foreign minister, Hua Chunying repeatedly avoided giving a yes or no answer, when asked by reporters whether she would call Russia’s attacks an invasion.
Instead, according to an official translation of her Mandarin-language remarks, she said, “The U.S. has been fueling the flame, fanning up the flame, how do they want to put out the fire?”
The Chinese government rejected the imposition of sanctions on Russia in recent days knowing that it would fail to explain its moves in a case similar treatment was meted out to Taiwan.
China’s dilemma
The Chinese government thinks it cannot be seen to support the war in Europe as there is a potential for trade blowback on China from Western Europe.
Ukraine is one of China’s most important trading partners. This relationship would be difficult to sustain considering President Xi Jinping’s close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
China wants to strengthen military and strategic ties with Moscow, as well. Both the leaders met just ahead of the opening ceremony, of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and issued a statement opposing “further enlargement” of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
They said there were “no limits” or “forbidden” areas of cooperation between Russia and China.
On Weibo, China's microblogging platform, Chinese nationalists have used Russia's invasion of Ukraine to call on their nation to follow suit with comments like: "It's the best chance to take Taiwan back now!"
Picture Credits: HT