Beijing digs in behind Russia over Ukraine invasion
President Xi Jinping has assured Vladimir Putin of China’s support on Russian ‘sovereignty and security’.
President Xi Jinping has assured Vladimir Putin of China’s support on Russian “sovereignty and security”, leading Washington to warn Beijing it risked ending up “on the wrong side of history”.
China is “willing to continue to offer mutual support (to Russia) on issues concerning core interests and major concerns such as sovereignty and security,” state broadcaster CCTV reported Mr Xi telling the Russian President during a phone call on Wednesday.
The backing comes as the three leaders of France, Germany and Italy arrived in Kyiv to “send clear political signals to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, who have been resisting heroically for several months”.
US President Joe Biden also announced $US1bn worth of new arms for Ukraine as Pentagon officials defended the pace and quality of supplies as meeting Kyiv’s battlefield needs.
China has refused to condemn Moscow’s massive military assault on Ukraine and has been accused of providing diplomatic cover for Russia by blasting Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv.
Wednesday’s call was the second reported between the two leaders since Mr Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
According to CCTV, Mr Xi praised the “good momentum of development” in bilateral relations since the start of the year “in the face of global turmoil and changes”.
Beijing was willing to “intensify strategic co-ordination between the two countries”, the Chinese President reportedly said.
The Kremlin said the two leaders had agreed to ramp up economic co-operation in the face of “unlawful” Western sanctions.
But the US swiftly weighed in with a frosty retort to Beijing’s expressed alignment with Moscow.
“China claims to be neutral, but its behaviour makes clear that it is still investing in close ties to Russia,” a State Department spokesperson said.
Washington was “monitoring China’s activity closely”, including how the Asian giant was “still echoing Russian propaganda around the world” and suggesting Moscow’s atrocities in Ukraine were “staged”.
“Nations that side with Vladimir Putin will inevitably find themselves on the wrong side of history,” the spokesperson said.
The West has adopted unprecedented sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow considers that Europe and the US have thus caused a global economic slowdown. Moscow is also looking for new markets and suppliers to replace the major foreign firms that left Russia following the invasion.
The EU and the US have warned that any backing from Beijing for Russia’s war, or help for Moscow to dodge Western sanctions, would damage ties.
China and India are two major economies that have not taken part in retaliatory measures against Moscow.
French President Emmanuel Macron travelled by train from Poland with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday morning for their first meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since the invasion.
Mr Macron said the visit was meant to show “support” to Ukraine “both for the present and the future”, and comes as Ukraine pushes to be given official candidate status to join the EU.
Russian forces continued to pressure Kyiv’s troops in Donbas as Ukrainian troops shelled targets on the frontlines with newly arrived French Caesar howitzers, as Ukraine officials met in Brussels with Western allies, hoping to obtain more ammunition and more lethal weapons to turn the tables on the invaders.
The newest US arms package features 18 more 155mm howitzers and 36,000 rounds of ammunition for them; two land-based Harpoon anti-ship missile systems; and additional rockets for four Himars precision rocket artillery systems that Ukraine is soon to put in the field.
Russian forces appeared close to consolidating control of Severodonetsk, a key industrial city in the Luhansk region that Ukraine troops have fought determinedly to hold.
Capturing Severodonetsk has become a key goal for the Russians, as it would open the road to Sloviansk and another major city, Kramatorsk.
AFP
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