"Specific countries" must quit stating "today Ukraine, tomorrow Taiwan," according to China
China is "seriously concerned" about the war in Ukraine escalating and the potential for things to get out of hand, according to Qin Gang, the country's foreign minister.
Beijing has stayed silent over Russia's invasion of Ukraine despite last year's "no limits" partnership between Beijing and Moscow. If China gives military help to Russia, which Beijing claims it is not doing, the United States has threatened dire consequences.
In a speech, Qin urged some states to "immediately stop stoking the fire," adding that these countries also needed to "stop hyping up 'today Ukraine, tomorrow Taiwan'". He declared, "We firmly oppose any type of hegemony, against any foreign meddling in China's affairs." Tuesday saw the publishing of a report by China on the Global Security Initiative (GSI), which is President Xi Jinping's leading security initiative and upholds the idea of "indivisible security," which is also supported by Russia.
In a stopover in Hungary on his way to Moscow on Monday, China's top diplomat Wang Yi called for a peaceful end to the Ukraine crisis.
In keeping with the Kremlin, which portrays the conflict as a "special military operation" meant to safeguard Russia's own security, Beijing has refrained from denouncing Moscow's campaign against Ukraine or calling it a "invasion."
On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a warning, telling Wang that the US was "very worried" that China was considering sending "lethal assistance" to Russia major ramifications for our partnership.
In an interview with NBC News, Blinken stated that "there are various forms of deadly support that they are at least contemplating delivering, to include weaponry," adding that Washington would soon provide additional information.
Any Chinese arms shipments to Russia run the risk of escalating the conflict in Ukraine into a conflict between Russia and China on the one side and Ukraine and the NATO military alliance under American leadership on the other.
In defiance of Western demands to isolate Moscow, Xi has supported Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia. After the invasion of Ukraine, trade between China and Russia has increased, and Russia has sold more oil to Asian nations like China.