On March 18, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian hosted a regular press conference. A reporter asked about how the US is considering how to support Ukrainian refugees.
Zhao Lijian said that China is deeply concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Ukraine and deplores reports of civilian casualties and an increase in the number of refugees. It is imperative that all parties cease fire and cease fighting as soon as possible, exercise maximum restraint, ensure the safety of civilians and basic humanitarian needs, and prevent a larger-scale humanitarian crisis. China attaches great importance to the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and has put forward a six-point proposal. The Red Cross Society of China has provided three batches of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Among them, the third batch of supplies focuses on helping the Ukrainian Red Cross to help children displaced by the conflict.
Zhao Lijian said that we welcome any initiatives and measures put forward by various parties to help ease and resolve the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. You mentioned just now that the US is discussing how to support Ukrainian refugees. We hope that the US can formulate a plan as soon as possible and implement relevant discussions into actions. The Ukrainian crisis has produced millions of refugees. The U.S. has known this for a long time, so why bother? The U.S. side should deeply reflect on the root cause of the current refugee crisis, what role the U.S. side plays in the Ukraine crisis, and what corresponding responsibilities and obligations it should undertake. Recently, many people of insight in the world have been thinking about how the situation in Ukraine has developed to where it is today if it wasn’t for the serious imbalance of regional security caused by the five consecutive rounds of NATO’s eastward expansion? Did the countries that insisted on making the decision to expand NATO to the east, despite their opposition, envisioned the difficult situation of refugees today?
Zhao Lijian pointed out that 2.6 million refugees have poured into European countries in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, while the US is still watching the fire from the other side. When the Vice President of the United States visited Poland recently and was asked whether the United States would accept some Ukrainian refugees, we heard her laugh and did not respond directly. What the world sees is that, as the initiator and biggest promoter of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the US is still only acting in a pretentious manner when it comes to the refugee issue. This is ironic and very telling. (CCTV reporter Huang Huixin and Kong Luyuan)