(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns with China’s top diplomat at the weekend that Beijing is considering providing weapons to aid Russia’s war on Ukraine. The response was a blunt if vague denial together with an insinuation that it is the U.S. that seeks to “profit” from the conflict.
“We do not accept the U.S.’s finger-pointing or even coercion targeting China-Russia relations,” Beijing’s foreign ministry quoted Wang Yi as having told Blinken at their meeting in Germany.
“The U.S., as a major country, has every reason to work for a political settlement of the [Ukraine] crisis, instead of fanning the flames or profiting from it,” he said.
Blinken met with Wang, the Chinese Communist Party’s senior foreign affairs official, on the fringes of the Munich Security Conference, a fortnight after canceling a visit to Beijing because of the intrusion into U.S. airspace of a Chinese spy balloon.
The balloon episode and Western unease about China’s response to Russia’s invasion on Ukraine evidently dominated the informal meeting, judging from comments from both sides.
Blinken told CBS “Face the Nation” that he raised with Wang “concerns that we have that China’s considering providing lethal support to Russia in its efforts in Ukraine.”
He said that thus far the U.S. has seen Chinese companies provide non-lethal support for Russia’s war on Ukraine – “and of course, in China, there’s really no distinction between private companies and the state” – but the concern now is that Beijing is mulling sending lethal support.
“Weapons,” he said when asked for details. “Primarily weapons.”
Blinken said on ABC’s “This Week” that Beijing up until now has for the most part “been engaged in providing rhetorical, political, diplomatic support to Russia.”
“But, we have information that gives us concern that they are considering providing lethal support to Russia in the war against Ukraine. And it was important for me to share very clearly with Wang Yi that this would be a serious problem.”
Blinken recalled that Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, just weeks before the invasion began a year ago, met in Beijing and affirmed a “no limits” partnership between their countries.
“We were very concerned that ‘no limits’ might include significant support to Russia in its aggression.”
‘Strategic goals’
In an address to the Munich Security Conference, Wang underlined Beijing’s stated position that it has always promoted a diplomatic settlement to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
He alluded to “some forces” being opposed to a peaceful resolution of the war, not wanting peace talks to succeed, caring nothing for the lives of Ukrainians, but appearing to have “strategic goals” beyond Ukraine, he said.
“We did not know why the [talks] process was cut short,” Wang said through a translator. “Some forces might not want to see peace talks to materialize. They don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians, nor the harms on Europe. They might have strategic goals larger than Ukraine itself.”
As his government has done consistently since the invasion began, Wang was essentially echoing a key Kremlin talking point about the conflict; Moscow has throughout accused the U.S. of using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder in a proxy campaign to weaken Russia.
Wang also told the conference that Beijing would soon release a position paper detailing its proposal for a political resolution to the war.
He said it would include reaffirmation of key principles – that sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected; that the U.N. Charter should be upheld; that the legitimate security concerns of all countries should be taken seriously; and that all efforts aimed at peacefully resolving the crisis should be supported.
In another Sunday talk show appearance, Blinken took issue with China’s depiction of its role in the crisis, saying it was “trying to have it both ways.”
“Publicly they present themselves as a country striving for peace in Ukraine,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“But privately, as I said, we’ve seen already over these past months the provision of non-lethal assistance that does go directly to aiding and abetting Russia’s war effort.”
“And some further information that we are sharing today and that I think will be out there soon that indicates that they are strongly considering providing lethal assistance to Russia,” he said. “To the best of our knowledge, they haven’t crossed that line yet.”