China’s top ambassador to Washington promised that his country would do anything to defuse the war in Ukraine and said its relations with Russia were not part of the problem.
The statement from Ambassador Qin Gang came following US President Joe Biden's earlier warning to President Xi Jinping about the 'implications' if China supported Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
President Xi Jinping however assured Biden that his country did not want war in a video call the two leaders made last Friday.
Qin claimed that there was misinformation about China providing military aid to Russia and that they would do anything to alleviate the crisis.
At the same time, he also said China has normal cooperation in trade, economy, finance and energy with Russia.
It is new evidence showing China’s efforts in balancing its ties with America and Russia as the Biden administration seeks to increase international pressure on President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
Last week, Biden and Xi had agreed on the need to promote peace but they disagreed on who was responsible for the suffering in Ukraine, where the Chinese leader refused to blame Russia alone for the attack.
Instead, an official statement from Beijing clarified that Xi’s stance was that the US and Europe had provoked Putin to attack Ukraine by expanding NATO into Eastern Europe.
