Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his annual press conference on March 7, 2022 in Beijing, China. RYAN WU / REUTERS
If China says it is “ready to continue to play a constructive role” to “promote dialogue” in what it continues to call the “Ukraine crisis,” no one should be wrong: the friendship between China and Russia is “eternal” and enduring. “Definitely,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recalled on Monday, March 7, during his annual press conference.
While France, through its ambassador to China, the European Union, through the voice of Josep Borrell, its high representative for foreign affairs, and the United States, through the voice of Anthony Blinken, secretary of state, have in recent days called on China to become more actively involved as a mediator, Wang And it confirmed the importance of its obligations together with Russia. Moreover, “we must keep in mind long-term peace and stability in the region and create a balanced, effective and durable European security mechanism,” the minister said, echoing Vladimir Putin’s claims against NATO almost verbatim.
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Living censorship
On Monday, the Global Times was even more candid: “The West wants to push China to follow suit and unilaterally impose sanctions on Russia without addressing key security concerns that have been caused by a long-standing U.S. strategy to poison relations between Russia and Ukraine and between Russia and European Union. So China is ready to commit itself on a humanitarian level to providing assistance to the civilian population, but there can be no question of coming into conflict with Russia, whose West refuses to take into account “legitimate security interests.”
If all that was needed was a sign of Beijing’s support for Moscow, then the opening ceremony of the Paralympics on Friday, March 4 provided it: Chinese television simply and simply censored – live – the comments of Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons calling for “peace” and said, that he is “horrified” by today’s world, although Mr. Parsons was careful not to make any direct reference to Ukraine.
Read also Paralympic Games 2022 opened with a Ukrainian storm
In his press conference, Wang Yi constantly denounced the “cold war mentality” of the United States. On almost every topic: the Arab world, tensions between China and India, the South China Sea, Latin America, relations between China and the European Union or the Korean Peninsula, the problems, he said, were either caused or exacerbated by dirty tricks. “great power outside the region”.
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