Ukraine crisis: China calls for talks, refuses to criticise Putin's actions

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held telephone talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday as Beijing walked a fine line calling for talks to resolve the Ukrainian crisis while refusing to criticise Moscow's special military offensive against Kyiv.

In a televised address, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his move to launch a military operation in Ukraine came in response to threats emanating from the neighbouring country. He also warned other countries that if they attempted to interfere with the Russian military operation they would see "consequences they have never seen".

China, while showing its diplomatic solidarity with Russia, which came under bitter attack from the US, the EU and UN Secretary General Antnio Guterres who sharply criticised Putin's action to send troops to Donbas region, continued to maintain its silence over Moscow's move to accord two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities.

In his talks with Lavrov, Wang said there is a complex and special historical context of the Ukraine issue and the Chinese side understands Russia's legitimate security concerns.

Wang also reiterated that China has always respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.

He urged all parties to completely abandon the Cold War mindset and strive for a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism through dialogue and negotiation, official media here reported.

Lavrov for his part stressed that the Russian side was forced to take necessary measures to safeguard its rights and interests.

Defending Putin's action, he explained the evolution of the situation in Ukraine and Russia's position.

He said the US and NATO reneged on their commitments, kept expanding eastward, refused to implement the new Minsk agreement and violated United Nations Security Council Resolution 2202 (2015), state-run CGTN reported.

Putin's military action, however, dominated over an hour-long Foreign Ministry briefing, where Assistant Foreign Minister and spokesperson Hua Chunying sought to play down China's unwillingness to condemn Russia for the invasion.

Instead Hua repeated calls for talks to resolve the crisis in Ukraine while accusing the US and its allies of worsening the situation. We call on all parties to exercise restraint and prevent the situation from getting out of control, Hua said.

Asked whether Putin's move violated Ukraine's sovereignty, she said, this issue has complex historical background and merits. What we say is the interplay of complex factors. China is closely following the latest developments.

We still hope that the parties concerned will not shut the door to peace and engage instead in dialogue and consultation and prevent the situation from further escalating, she said.

While China has not endorsed Putin's recognition of independence of eastern Ukraine's separatist areas or his decision to send Russian forces there, Hua said China called on parties to respect others' legitimate security concerns.

All parties should work for peace instead of escalating the tension or hyping up the possibility of war, she said.

Those parties who were busy condemning others, what have they done? Have they persuaded others? Hua asked and parried questions whether Putin's plans to send troops figured during the Russian President's meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

While there is a sense of disquiet in China over the likelihood that the Russia's military action may spiral into wider war in Europe, there is also sense of relief here that much of the US and Western countries adverse attention against Beijing on a host of issue has been diverted against Moscow and may remain so for prolonged period.

Opposition to the US has drawn both China and Russia forming a formidable strategic alliance.

In her press briefing, Hua declined to term Russia's actions as an invasion or directly refer to the movement of Russian forces into Ukraine.

Official media reported that China's Embassy in Kyiv issued a warning to its citizens to stay at home and place a Chinese flag inside or on their vehicle if they needed to travel long distances.

On the trade front, China's customs agency on Thursday has approved imports of wheat from all regions of Russia, which observers say could help reduce the impact of Western sanctions against Moscow.

During his visit to China on February 4 to take part in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics which was boycotted by the US and Western over allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang, China and Russia jointly opposed the expansion of NATO amidst the Ukraine crisis.

Moscow also joined Beijing in denouncing AUKUS, (US, UK, Australia) as well as bloc formations in Indo-Pacific, a veiled reference against Quad, (US, India, Australia, Japan) alliance as China-Russia deepened the strategic alliance to push back against mounting pressure from the US and allies.

After their summit, Xi and Putin issued a lengthy joint statement in which they expressed their firm opposition to the US unilateral approach to resolve the global disputes.

"Some forces representing a minority on the world stage continue to advocate unilateral approaches to resolving international problems and resort to military policy, it read.

Earlier at the United Nations, China called on all parties involved in the Ukrainian issue to exercise restraint and avoid taking any action that may aggravate tensions.

"In the current context, all parties concerned should exercise restraint, and avoid taking any action that may aggravate tensions," Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told the plenary meeting of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on Ukraine, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

However, it is not clear whether Zhang made the statement after Putin announced the military operation in Ukraine, claiming it's intended to protect civilians.

"China has been paying attention to the evolving situation in Ukraine. China's position on safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states has been consistent. The purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be jointly upheld," Xinhua quoted Zhang as saying at the UNGA meeting in New York.

Zhang pointed out that at the same time, "we note that the issue of Ukraine is rooted in a complex web of historical and present factors. An interplay of those factors has driven the situation to this point. In the current context, all parties concerned should exercise restraint, and avoid taking any action that may aggravate tensions".