Riyaz ul Khaliq
01 March 2022•Update: 01 March 2022
ISTANBUL
China on Tuesday urged Russia and Ukraine to prefer diplomacy and dialogue to war.
“China regrets the reported casualties and it’s not the situation China wants to see,” Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Beijing while speaking about the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The Russia-Ukraine war entered its sixth day on Tuesday, with the latest reports indicating that Russian troops were heading toward the capital Kyiv.
At least 136 civilians have been killed so far in Ukraine and more than 600,000 others have fled the country, according to UN officials.
“China hopes the two sides will pursue dialogue and take each other's reasonable concerns into account to ensure Europe's security,” Wang said, according to Chinese daily Global Times.
Ukraine says more than 350 civilians have been killed and over 1,600 injured during attacks by Russian forces.
The war has been met with outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK, US, and Japan implementing a range of economic sanctions on Russia.
Wang added China hopes all “relevant parties show restraint to prevent the situation from further deteriorating.”
“China supports and encourages all the diplomatic efforts in favor of resolving the Ukraine crisis through peaceful means,” he stressed, referring to a round of talks between representatives of Russia and Ukraine in Belarus on Monday.
- ‘Support to Taiwan risky for US’
On the voyage of US warship through the Taiwan Strait this weekend, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said: “If the US intends to lend support to ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionists by sending warship passing through the Taiwan Straits, it will only accelerate the secessionists’ doom, and the US will also have to pay a heavy price for its risky move.”
On Sunday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry reported two Chinese jets entered its air defense area, while eight such jets crossed the Taiwan Strait on Saturday after a US guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) sailed through the Taiwan Strait.
One Chinese jet was detected crossing what Taiwan calls “air defense identification zone (ADIZ)" on Tuesday.
Chinese military jets crossed the ADIZ 17 times last month.
As the world focuses on the Russia-Ukraine war, observers are also closely watching China’s moves regarding Taiwan, which it sees as a breakaway province.
Taipei, however, has insisted on its independence since 1949 and maintains diplomatic relations with at least 14 countries.
A US delegation of former security officials is expected to land in Taipei on Tuesday "to discuss Taiwan-US relations and cooperation, and regional peace and stability."
