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Wang Yi made this remark at the press conference of the foreign ministers of China’s “two sessions” on Monday (March 7).
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is willing to carry out “necessary” mediation over the Ukraine war and will provide Ukraine with a batch of emergency humanitarian aid as soon as possible.
Wang Yi made this remark at the press conference of the foreign ministers of China’s two sessions on Monday (March 7). This is the first time China has said it will play a mediating role in Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been widely opposed by the international community, but Beijing, which has close ties to Moscow, has refused to condemn the Russian invasion or impose any sanctions, saying it “understands” Russia’s security concerns.
willing to mediate
The Ukrainian issue has become the focus of attention at the Foreign Minister’s Press Conference, which is held every year during the two sessions. The four questions at the opening of the press conference are all relevant.
Responding to a Reuters reporter’s question about whether China was concerned “by refusing to condemn Russia, it would damage its own international status,” Wang said that Beijing “has been in close communication with all parties.”
Ukraine Russia Situation Russia Invasion of Ukraine One Week Timeline
“The tighter the situation is, the more unstoppable the peace talks will be; the bigger the differences, the more it is necessary to sit down and negotiate. China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace talks, and is willing to work with the international community to carry out necessary mediation when needed,” he said. said.
However, Wang Yi did not disclose China’s specific plans, saying only that such mediation would be carried out “when needed.”
The war in Ukraine is getting more and more intense. Ukrainian authorities said residential areas in several cities in the country continued to be attacked by Russian rockets and warned that Russia would launch a full-scale attack on the capital Kyiv.
The United Nations refugee agency said on Sunday (March 6) that more than 1.5 million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries for refuge in the past 10 days of war. The agency said it was the fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.
Putin has spoken to leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett following the Russian offensive. Russia and Ukraine have also held two rounds of peace talks in Belarus. But Russia is still launching attacks on multiple cities.
Earlier, Josep Borrell, the EU’s senior foreign and policy representative, said in an interview with the media that the mediator of the Russian-Ukrainian war “must be China”.
But China has not responded directly to whether it will act as a mediator. In a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday (March 5), Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China encourages direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and also encourages the U.S., NATO, the European Union and Russia to “carry out equal dialogues”.
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The press conference will be held via video link.
At a press conference on Monday, Wang Yi also announced that the Red Cross Society of China will provide Ukraine with a batch of emergency humanitarian aid as soon as possible.
However, Wang Yi has not changed Beijing’s position on the Ukraine issue. He stressed that China “makes independent judgments based on the merits of the matter” and said the Ukraine issue had “complicated causes” and needed to “accommodate the legitimate security concerns of the parties”.
China has always refused to call Russia an ally, but when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China in early February, authorities described Sino-Russian relations as “uncapped”.
In the wake of the Ukraine crisis, China refused to call Russia’s actions an “invasion” and abstained in a vote at the U.N. General Assembly’s emergency special session on Ukraine. 141 of the 193 members of the UN Security Council supported the proposal to condemn Russia.
What other issues did Wang Yi talk about?
At the one-and-a-half-hour press conference, Wang Yi also answered questions from reporters on China’s relations with the United States, the European Union, India, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, ASEAN and other regions and organizations.
Among the 27 questions, he also responded to questions from Chinese and foreign media about the South China Sea issue and whether China would take action against Taiwan like Russia did with Ukraine.
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We have compiled his remarks on some of the issues:
- Since China and ASEAN countries started consultations on the Code of Conduct (Code of Conduct in the South China Sea), a lot of positive progress has been made. In the past two years, mainly because of the impact of the epidemic, the pace of the consultation process has indeed slowed down. But the Chinese side has always been full of confidence in the prospect of reaching the ‘Code’.
- We have seen that some non-regional countries are not happy to see the norm being reached, and do not want the South China Sea to be calm, because this will make them lose the excuse to meddle in the South China Sea for personal gain. It is hoped that ASEAN countries can see this clearly and jointly resist external interference and sabotage.
Will “Taiwan Unify by Force”
- The Taiwan issue is entirely China’s internal affairs… The DPP authorities refuse to agree with the one-China principle, try to change the status quo that both sides of the strait belong to one China, and distort Taiwan’s history by promoting “two Chinas” and “one China, one Taiwan”. Severing Taiwan’s roots will ultimately ruin Taiwan’s future.
- In order to contain China’s revitalization, some forces in the United States connive and encourage the development of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces, challenge and hollow out the one-China principle, seriously violate the basic norms of international relations, and seriously undermine the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, which will not only push Taiwan into a dangerous situation, but also put Taiwan in a dangerous situation. bring unbearable consequences to the United States.
- US leaders and some senior officials have successively stated that the US does not seek a “new Cold War”, does not seek to change China’s system, does not seek to strengthen alliances against China, does not support “Taiwan independence”, and has no intention of confronting China. But it is regrettable that this “four no and one intentional” statement has always been floating in the air and has not landed for a long time.
- The real purpose of the “Indo-Pacific strategy” is to try to create an Indo-Pacific version of NATO, to maintain the hegemonic system dominated by the United States… What it brings is by no means a good news, but a disaster that disrupts regional peace and stability.
- China-EU cooperation has gone through decades of ups and downs. It is rooted in a solid foundation of public opinion, broad common interests, and similar strategic demands. It has strong resilience and potential, and cannot be reversed by any force.
- At present, China-Japan relations are still facing some differences and challenges… The Japanese side should follow the trend, not against the current.
The North Korean Nuclear Issue and China-South Korea Relations
- Since 2018, the DPRK has taken a series of positive measures aimed at promoting dialogue, but so far it has not received due returns. This is not in line with the “action-to-action” principle that has been agreed upon by all parties, and has led to a serious lack of mutual trust between the DPRK and the US. To make matters worse, the various dialogue proposals ended up being reduced to empty slogans.
- The Chinese often say that “a distant relative is not as good as a near neighbor”. There is also a saying in South Korea that “three coppers buy a house, and a thousand taels of gold buy a neighbor”… We are willing to take the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with South Korea as an opportunity to carry forward the tradition of friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and better achieve common development.
- China has built more than 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads, nearly 100 ports, and countless hospitals and schools in Africa. These are not “debt traps”, but monuments of cooperation.
- Latin America is a land full of hope and vitality, not someone’s ‘backyard’. What the Latin American people need is fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, not power politics and bullying.
- The relationship between China and the five Central Asian countries is in the golden age of 30 years, showing broad prospects for vigorous development. China is willing to work with the five countries to … firmly support each other on issues of core interests and build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.
- ASEAN countries are not pawns in geopolitical competition, but important players in promoting regional development and prosperity. We will continue to take ASEAN as a priority in China’s diplomacy and firmly safeguard the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation structure.
- As a strategic partner of Middle Eastern countries, China has always pursued “two supports”, that is, to support Middle Eastern countries in solidarity and cooperation to solve regional security issues, and to support the people of the Middle East to independently explore their own development paths… We never seek any geopolitical self-interest, nor do we intend to fill the gap. The so-called power vacuum.