Beijing has pushed back on Washington’s “groundless” claims about arming Moscow
FILE PHOTO: Ambassador Geng Shuang. © GREG BAKER / AFP
Washington is deliberately prolonging the Ukraine conflict and seeking to profit from it, while “smearing” Beijing with false accusations, the Chinese deputy envoy to the UN told the Security Council on Monday.
During the meeting about the Ukraine conflict, Ambassador Geng Shuang addressed US claims that China was supplying Russia with weapons components, calling them “groundless” and “totally unacceptable.”
“China is not the creator, or a party to the Ukraine crisis,” said Geng. “Nor have we provided lethal weapons to any party in the conflict. We have not done… what the US has done, which is to deliberately prolong the fighting and profit from the crisis. We will not do that.”
The Chinese diplomat warned that the fighting in Ukraine is being prolonged by large quantities of weapons and ammunition of “expanding variety and scope,” supplied to Kiev by the US and its allies. Meanwhile, Beijing has consistently advocated for a ceasefire and a diplomatic settlement of the crisis.
“Weapons may end wars, but they do not bring about lasting peace,” Geng told the Security Council.
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He reiterated Beijing’s position that US and EU sanctions on Chinese companies doing business with Russia are unilateral and illegitimate.
“China has a right to carry out normal economic and trade cooperation with all countries in the world, including with Russia, and such cooperation should not be interfered with or undermined,” the diplomat said. “We urge the US to stop attacking, smearing, and slandering China and spreading fabrications, and stop unilateral sanctions against, and unreasonable suppression of, Chinese enterprises.”
While the US and its allies have poured over $200 billion worth of weapons, equipment and ammunition into Ukraine – while insisting that does not make them party to the hostilities – they have repeatedly accused China of helping the Russian military by exporting dual-use goods, and threatened Beijing with sanctions.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry addressed the accusations directly last week, telling Washington that “diverting attention and shifting the blame is not the right way” to solve the conflict.
On Monday, Geng added that the US needs to “stop taking advantage of the Ukraine crisis to advance its geopolitical strategy, provoke bloc confrontation, and serve its own agenda.”
