The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, spoke about the dialogue with the head of the Chancellery of the Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, during which the Chinese representative asked why his country should not supply weapons to the Russian Federation if the EU supplies them to Ukraine. Borrell spoke about the content of the dialogue on February 21 during a press conference.
“I must admit that we have long had good relations with State Counselor Wang Yi, even when I was the Spanish Foreign Minister and he headed the Chinese Foreign Ministry. We had a frank conversation in Munich. He was very clear, I can’t repeat his words, but he said that China does not give weapons to a country that is at war. He said that they do not give Russia weapons and will not. This is what he told me, emphasizing that this is the principle of China’s foreign policy,” he said.
As Borrell added, Wang Yi asked him why the EU is so concerned about the issue of China’s arms supplies to Russia, if the EU itself supplies them to Ukraine.
“By the way, he asked: “Why are you worried that I can give weapons to Russia if you give weapons to Ukraine?” I had to explain to him the big difference, to tell us what a threat the war in Ukraine poses to us, ”explained the head of European diplomacy.
Earlier, on February 18, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Washington was concerned about possible assistance from China to Russia in the conduct of hostilities in Ukraine. On the same day, he warned China of the consequences if it provided material assistance to Russia in a special military operation.
In turn, Wang Yi, during a meeting with the US Secretary of State, said that China would never put up with US pressure and threats against Russian-Chinese relations.
At the same time, on February 17, the Permanent Representative of China to the UN, Zhang Jun, speaking at a meeting of the Security Council of the organization on the anniversary of the Minsk agreements, said that China calls on Russia and Ukraine to cease fire and start peace negotiations as soon as possible.
Western countries have stepped up military and financial support to Ukraine against the backdrop of a Russian special operation to protect Donbass. Its beginning was announced on February 24, 2022 due to the aggravation of the situation due to the shelling of Ukrainian troops.
