The Chinese Government denied on Monday that it was considering supplying arms to Russia to support its offensive in Ukraine, as claimed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the weekend.
“We do not accept the United States pointing fingers at China-Russia relations, let alone exerting pressure and coercion,” said Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, accusing Washington of “spreading false information.”
“It is the United States, not China, that is constantly sending weapons to the battlefield,” he added.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that China was considering supplying arms to Russia, after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Munich on the sidelines of the Security Conference.
“We talked about the war being waged by Russia and the concerns that we have that China is considering providing lethal support to Russia,” he said on CBS. Asked what that would entail in practical terms, the US diplomatic chief said, “Mainly weapons.”
Blinken warned of “implications and consequences” for China if it were found to be providing “material support” to Russia in its war in Ukraine or helping it evade Western sanctions, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
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US Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Munich on Saturday, had also questioned China’s neutrality. The United States is “troubled by the fact that Beijing has deepened its relationship with Moscow since the war began,” she said.
“Any move by China to provide lethal support to Russia would only reward aggression, continue the killing and further undermine a rules-based order,” the vice president warned.
“We call on the United States to think seriously about its own actions and do more to calm the situation, promote peace and dialogue, stop blaming others and spreading false information,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson reacted on Monday.
“China’s position on the Ukraine issue can be summed up in one sentence: to encourage peace and promote dialogue,” he stressed.
Tensions between the United States and China are high following the discovery earlier this month of a Chinese spyware balloon flying over US territory.
