In a brief given by Jorge Toledo, the EU's ambassador to China on Friday, 24 Feb, 2023, he pointed out that China will face economic sanctions if it supplies arms to Russia amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The EU, earlier too, had asked China to use its influence with Russia to help end the war. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, on Sunday 19 Feb, 2023 said that China would cross 'red line' if it provided lethal aid to Russia during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Earlier too, Zhanna Leshchynska, charge d'affaires at the Ukrainian embassy in China pointed out that if China claims to be neutral, then it should continue to talk to both sides, a remark referring to the deep strategic relations between Beijing and Moscow. She further commented on the matter by saying that "the Chinese side mostly talks to Russia but not with Ukraine."
Her statement came after Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi on Sunday, 19 Feb, '23 had told Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at the Munich Security Conference that "China has always stood on the side of peace and dialogue, and has always insisted on urging peace and promoting talks". However, Leshchynska's statement specifies that Ukraine has no trust on the Chinese government's approach to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war given the deep relations between China and Russia.
Wang Yi visited Russia on Wednesday, 22 Feb, '23 ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As per a report published by Xinhua, Wang stated that China was willing to 'deepen political trust' and 'strengthen strategic coordination' with Russia.
Since the Russia-Ukraine war started, China has offered Putin diplomatic and financial support, but refrained from overt military involvement or sending arms and ammunition. Even though China has often claimed to hold peace talks in order to pacify the matter, it has declined to join any sanction against Russia. China has posed itself as a neutral party, however, more tilted toward Russia, and has refused to denounce the war on various occasions.
(Disclaimer: This is a guest post by Shashikant Sharma, who completed his Graduation in English Literature from Delhi University, New Delhi. He completed his Chinese Language and Cultural studies from National Tsinghua University, Taiwan. He presently works as a freelance journalist)
