China appears to be taking Russia’s side in the conflict between Russia, the United States, and NATO over Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian slammed NATO when asked about the United States rejecting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands that Ukraine not be allowed to join NATO.
“NATO is a Cold War remnant and its expansion is typical bloc politics. As the world’s largest military alliance, NATO should abandon the outdated Cold War mentality and ideological bias and do things that are conducive to upholding peace and stability,” Zhao told reporters. “China firmly opposes all kinds of small cliques.”
“We hope all relevant sides can fully consider each other’s legitimate security concerns, avoid antagonism and confrontation, and properly address differences and disputes through equal consultation on the basis of mutual respect,” he continued.
According to The New York Post, “China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, relayed the same message to Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call Wednesday in which Wang backed Putin’s rationale for Russia’s massive military buildup along Ukraine’s border.”
The Post noted that Wang initially told Blinken that there was a need for “all parties to remain calm and refrain from inflaming tensions or hyping the crisis.”
Wang additionally said the “Cold War mentality” needed to be abandoned in order to establish “a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism through negotiations, with Russia’s legitimate security concerns being taken seriously and addressed.”
“At that point, the Chinese readout indicates, Wang appeared to veer into advocating for Putin’s argument that Russia is only responding to aggression from the US and its European allies,” The New York Post added.
“The security of one country should not be at the expense of the security of others, and regional security should not be guaranteed by strengthening or even expanding military blocs,” Wang said.
