According to Chinese Foreign Minister Quin Gang, the conflict in Ukraine is being controlled by an “invisible hand”.
“There appears to be an invisible hand urging a drag and escalation of the conflict, using the Ukraine crisis to advance a specific geopolitical agenda,” Qin said on the sidelines of an annual parliamentary meeting in Beijing. It was unfortunate that efforts for peace talks were repeatedly undermined.
Conflicts, sanctions and pressure would therefore not solve the problem. “The process of peace talks should start as soon as possible,” Qin reiterated China’s position on the Ukraine war.
“Either hostilities end, peace is restored and the process of a peaceful settlement begins – or more fuel is added to the fire and the crisis widens and spirals out of control.”
In his appeal, however, Qin also called for the “legitimate security interests of all parties to be respected” – a phrase that China usually uses to make clear its backing for the Russian position. The conflict is essentially “an outbreak of problems” in the security architecture in Europe, Qin said.
“China did not create the crisis. It is not a party in crisis and has not supplied weapons to either side,” Qin said. Qin therefore described blame, sanctions and threats against China as “absolutely unacceptable”. He was also reacting to warnings from the USA and Europe to China to supply weapons to Russia.
At the same time, Qin praised the relationship between China and Russia as a “model for new international relations”. Some countries looked at the relationship through Cold War lenses.
However, the foreign minister asserted that the relations were neither an alliance nor confrontational with third parties.