Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Anthony Blingen that China opposes any move to “throw more fuel into the fire” in Ukraine.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang called for talks to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, as well as the creation of a “balanced” European defense mechanism.
In a phone call on Saturday, the Chinese diplomat said the United States and Europe should focus on the negative impact of NATO’s eastern expansion on Russia’s security.
During the conversation, US State Department spokesman Netflix said in a statement that Blingen had again pressured China to criticize Russia.
China, which has expressed opposition to unilateral sanctions imposed on Moscow by the United States, the European Union and other Western countries, has so far refrained from condemning the Russian occupation of Ukraine.
The U.S. State Department says the call between the two diplomatic leaders will focus on the “pre-planned and unnecessary” conflict provoked by Russia.
Flinken used the opportunity to remind Wang that “the world is watching to see which countries uphold the basic principles of freedom, self-determination and sovereignty.”
The US Secretary of State stressed that the world was acting in “unity” in response to the Russian occupation and seeking to “pay a high price” for Moscow’s actions.
Beijing has defended the territorial sovereignty of the countries, but has maintained a vague stance on the conflict in Ukraine and has not voted in two UN votes condemning Russia, one in the Security Council and one in the General Assembly.
In an interview published on Saturday, the head of European diplomacy, Joseph Borel, backed China’s efforts to mediate a possible solution to the conflict in Ukraine.
“It simply came to our notice then [europeus] Be the mediator, it’s obvious, “Borel told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, recalling the bilateral diplomatic talks that have unified Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany since 2014 as part of the peace process in eastern Ukraine.
However, the diplomat stressed that possible Chinese mediation has not yet been proposed by the European Union or China.