Hong Kong (CNN) China’s top diplomat Wang Yi arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, Russian state media reported. This was the first visit by a Chinese official in this role to Russia since the all-out invasion of the Kremlin in Ukraine began almost a year ago.
Wang, who was named Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser last month, is making the high-profile visit as the final stop of an eight-day international tour that included visits to France, Italy and Hungary, as well as a security conference.
He will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday, the Russian state media TASS reported, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry. While neither country has indicated whether Wang will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that “we do not rule out such a meeting.”
According to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang met with Russian Security Council Chairman Nikolai Patrushev on Tuesday.
The ad said the two officials had agreed to defy “the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and ideological opposition” — a thinly veiled criticism of the US — and to make more efforts to “bolster global governance.” to improve, in an apparent reference to Beijing and Moscow’s ambitions to reshape the global order in their favour.
Wang and Patrushev also “exchanged views” on the Ukraine issue, the statement added, without giving details.
Wang’s trip comes after US President Joe Biden paid a surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday to show his support for the embattled country, which Washington and its European allies brought together over the past year to defend it through both military and military forces also through humanitarian and economic aid to support sanctions against Russia.
The diplomat arrived in Moscow a few days later US officials with concerns about how China’s ongoing partnership with Russia could impact the war in Ukraine – and hours after Putin made a major speech on the conflict, announcing plans to end Russia’s involvement in his to suspend the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty with the USA.
The Chinese leadership has claimed impartiality in the conflict but has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion, instead expanding trade ties and continuing joint military exercises, including this week.
But during engagements in European cities in recent days, Wang built on China’s self-portrayal as a supporter of peace and negotiations, telling the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Saturday that Beijing would publish its position on a “political solution” to the crisis.
Those comments drew suspicion from some Western leaders, who watch closely for any support China offers its northern neighbor, particularly that which crosses certain “red lines” articulated by Washington.
On Tuesday, China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang reiterated Beijing’s message on Ukraine at a security forum in the Chinese capital. China is “deeply concerned” that the conflict is “getting out of hand” and will continue to push for peace talks and provide “Chinese wisdom” to bring about a political solution, he said.
“At the same time, we call on the relevant countries to immediately stop adding fuel to the fire, stop putting the blame on China and exaggerate the discourse on Ukraine today and Taiwan tomorrow,” he said in an apparent reference to the US and his allies.
US warns China could provide ‘deadly support’ to Russia
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration has concerns that Beijing is considering stepping up its partnership with Moscow by providing “deadly support” to the Russian military as Russia prepares for an expected new offensive.
“We’ve been watching it very closely,” Blinken said in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation that aired Sunday. “The concern we have now is based on information we have that they are considering providing lethal support and we have made it very clear to them that it would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.”
According to a US advert, during a meeting between the two on the sidelines of the conference, Blinken Wang also warned “of the ramifications and consequences” of China stepping up its support for Russia’s war effort.
A senior State Department official told reporters that Blinken warned “rather bluntly about the implications and consequences of China providing material assistance to Russia or helping Russia systematically circumvent sanctions.”
US officials familiar with the intelligence information told CNN earlier on Saturday that the US has recently begun to see “worrying” trend lines in China’s support for the Russian military and there are signs that Beijing is “up to the crawling towards the border” wants to be caught without providing lethal military aid to Russia.
Those officials would not describe in detail what intelligence information the US has seen that points to a recent change in China’s stance, but they said US officials have been concerned enough to share the intelligence information with allies and partners in recent days would have shared in Munich.
Speaking at the MSC, Wang said China is “deeply concerned” by the ongoing crisis and is not adding “fuel to the fire” – a phrase Beijing’s diplomats have used in the past to accuse the US of perpetuating the conflict. China’s foreign ministry said Monday the US, not China, is the one sending a “steady stream of weapons onto the battlefield.”
Wang made no mention of the trip to Russia in his prepared remarks, nor in a subsequent live-streamed conversation on Saturday on the main stage of the Munich conference when asked by MSC Foundation Council President Wolfgang Ischinger if China was ready to ” to act according to its position that it “respects the territorial integrity” of Ukraine and if so, how.
Meeting with European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during the earlier phase of his trip last week, Wang underscored China’s commitment to peace talks and an end to the war. The tour was seen as part of China’s bid to strengthen its ties with Europe, where analysts say Beijing’s image has been damaged over the past year over its ties with Moscow.
A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said last Monday that Wang’s visit to Moscow would provide China and Russia with an opportunity to further develop their strategic partnership and “exchange views” on “international and regional hotspot issues of common concern” — a catch. All phrases are often used to allude to issues such as the war in Ukraine.
“China stands ready to use this visit as an opportunity to work with Russia to promote steady growth of bilateral ties in the direction set by the two heads of state, defend the legitimate rights and interests of both sides, and play an active role in the world.” to play peace,” the spokesman said.
Wang’s visit may also anticipate a state visit by Xi to Moscow later this year. Putin invited Xi during a usual year-end talk between the two leaders, but China’s foreign ministry has yet to confirm any plans.
In an editorial Tuesday, the state-run nationalist tabloid Global Times hailed the China-Russia friendship as “a positive world asset” and accused some in the West of trying to use the conflict in Ukraine to “hijack” China “. Russian relations.
“The United States has viewed China-Russia friendly relations through thick, tinted glasses from the very beginning,” it said. “Regardless of whether the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has broken out, the US does not want China and Russia to develop close ties. The suspicion, provocation and sabotage from Washington never stopped.”
CNN’s Nectar Gan contributed to the coverage.