Ankara (EFE) .
“We are concerned that China is considering supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine with lethal aid, something that we are watching very, very closely,” said the head of US diplomacy at a press conference in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart. Mevlut Cavusoglu.
“I am not going to expose what the consequences would be,” added Blinken, who revealed that he transferred that content on Saturday in Munich, on the sidelines of a security conference, to the director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China. (CCP), Wang Yi.
“I think China understands the risk it would take if it provided that kind of material support to Russia,” the secretary of state added.
Blinken also recalled that US President Joe Biden already informed his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, of the consequences for Beijing if it delivered weapons to Russia or helped it circumvent international sanctions at the start of the war.
Russia has acquired military drones from Iran and has also explored buying other weapons a year after its invasion of Ukraine, where it has lost hundreds of armored vehicles and consumed enormous amounts of artillery ammunition.
China: “It is Washington that sends weapons to the battlefield, not Beijing”
China has already responded today that it is the United States that “doesn’t stop supplying weapons to the battlefield” and “not China.”
“The one who does not stop supplying weapons to the battlefield is the United States, not China. The US is not qualified to order China around, and we will never accept the US dictating or imposing how Sino-Russian relations should be,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin told a press conference on Thursday.
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, China has maintained an ambiguous position within which it has called for respect for “the territorial integrity of all countries”, including Ukraine, and attention to the “legitimate concerns of all countries”, in reference to Russia.
China’s position on the crisis in Ukraine can be summed up in one sentence, and that is to promote peace and dialogue. It is what the international community is asking for,” Wang added.
The spokesman also urged the United States to “reflect on what it has done” and “take practical steps to cool the situation and promote peace.”
“They must stop blaming others and spreading false information. China will remain on the side of dialogue and peace and will play a constructive role in cooling the crisis,” he noted.
