China warns West against sending weapons to Ukraine & imposing sanctions on Russia

In vague support for Russia, China on Monday warned against providing weapons to Ukraine or imposing sanctions on Moscow amid war. In the address to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) during the session on Sexual Violence and Human Trafficking in Ukraine, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dai Bing said that such measures would “only perpetuate and expand the conflict”. According to him, the international community should work with each other to promote peace talks. 

Dai said, “Eliminating sexual violence and human trafficking in conflict is not the end of our efforts. Only through ceasefire and restoring peace can the trauma of conflict for women and children be fundamentally avoided. The international community should work together to promote peace talks, and encourage Russia and Ukraine to come back to the negotiation track.”

“Providing weapons or imposing sanctions and pressure will not solve the problem, but will only perpetuate and expand the conflict. People in Ukraine and other developing countries have no reason to pay the price for geopolitical and bloc confrontations,” he added. 

China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN noted that Ukrainians and people in other developing countries should not pay the price for the geopolitical and bloc confrontations. Dai said, “At a time when human destiny is shared and the global security is indivisible, no country can or should seek its own absolute security at the expense of the security of others. And international and regional security cannot and should not be guaranteed by strengthening military blocs and cutting off supply and industrial chains.”

“China once again calls on the parties concerned to put international and regional peace and security first, and to play a constructive role in the proper resolution of the crisis in Ukraine,” he added.

Russia 'frustrated' with China for not offering more support

Dai’s remarks follow The Washington Post report which stated that Russian officials are becoming “increasingly frustrated” with China’s apparent refusal to provide more support to Moscow amid the war with Ukraine. Over 100 days after the onset of the war in February, the majority of the West stood in support of Kyiv and a handful of nations publicly backed Moscow, such as China and Belarus. However, in an interesting development, the media report quoted a Chinese official describing Beijing’s discussions with Russia as “tense”. 

Image: AP