China's permanent representative to the EU, Fu Cong, said that China does not support the war in Ukraine, does not recognize the annexed Crimea and Donbas as Russian territories, and does not provide military assistance to Moscow. He made the statement ahead of a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, reports The New York Times.
China has not officially condemned Russia's Russian invasion of Ukraine because it understood Russia's claims of a defensive war against NATO and believes that "the real reasons are more complex" than Western leaders say.
According to him, the statement of the Russian and Chinese leaders about friendship and cooperation is misinterpreted. Words about "boundless friendship" between Moscow and Beijing are nothing more than rhetoric. NYT notes that the permanent representative in the interview tried to "distance" from Moscow.
The Kremlin, in response to the words of the Chinese ambassador, said that they are guided by the "content and spirit" of the negotiations between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which took place in Moscow in March 2023. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that the comments of the leaders of the countries reflect the joint agenda:
“The whole context of their mutual understanding is set out in two documents, two signed statements that were adopted as a result of Russian-Chinese negotiations. They are very informative, and they fully cover the entire range of issues that are on the joint agenda.”
On March 21, Putin and Xi Jinping met in the Kremlin and signed two documents: on economic cooperation and on expanding the partnership of states. Before that, on February 24, the anniversary of the war in Ukraine, the Chinese Foreign Ministry published its 12-point plan to end the conflict. During the meeting, Putin and the Chinese leader did not discuss Kyiv's peace plan, Peskov said.