China rebuked Western sanctions against Russia on Friday, as top European Union officials sought guarantees from Beijing that it would not assist Moscow in evading the economic sanctions imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also blamed the United States for the conflict in Ukraine, blaming the US for pushing NATO closer to Russia’s borders. Twenty-one of the EU’s 27 member states is also NATO members.
At a virtual conference, European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell were looking for evidence from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang that Beijing would assist in ending the war.
“China opposes the use of sanctions to solve disputes, and we are even more opposed to unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in international law,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said as they met.
China said we will not be obliged to choose a side
Mr. Zhao stated that Beijing would not be obliged to “choose a side or adopt a simplistic friend-or-foe attitude” when it came to Ukraine. We must oppose Cold War mindset and bloc confrontation in particular.”
“As the main perpetrator and instigator of the Ukraine problem, the United States has encouraged NATO to participate in five rounds of eastward expansion in the last two decades since 1999,” he said, adding that NATO membership rose from 16 to 30 countries, gradually pushing “Russia to the wall.”
Although China claims it is neutral in the crisis, it has established a “no limits” cooperation with Russia and has refused to criticize the invasion. Beijing consistently magnifies Russian disinformation about the fight and, in keeping with Russian tradition, does not refer to it as an invasion or a war.