China says it will not accept US ‘finger-pointing’ after Blinken said Beijing was considering supplying arms to Russia.
Beijing has strongly denied US claims that China is considering arming Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Top US diplomat Anthony Blinken, who has warned Beijing against supplying Russia with weapons in its war against Ukraine, said the US was in no position to make demands, a Chinese spokesman said.
Speaking at a regular briefing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said “China will never accept the United States pointing fingers or coercing us on Sino-Russian relations.”
Blinken’s comments come after Blinken expressed “deep concerns” about the “possibility of China providing dangerous material support to Russia”.
“To date, we have seen Chinese companies provide non-lethal support to Russia for use in Ukraine. “The concern we have now is based on the information we have that they are considering providing dangerous support,” Blinken told CBS News after meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
Wang Wenbin said the US was “in no position to make demands on China”.
He pointed to Beijing’s “joint partnership” with Moscow, which he said was built on non-alignment and confrontation.
Following Blinken’s comments, EU foreign affairs chief Joseph Borrell said on Monday that China’s supply of arms to Moscow “would be a red line” in the alliance’s relationship with China.
Borrell said he expressed his “strong concern” to Wang Yi and asked him to refrain from supplying arms to Russia.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was due to arrive in Moscow on Monday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In February last year, just before Russia invaded Ukraine, China pledged a “no limits” partnership with Russia, which set off alarm bells in the West.
China has avoided condemning the war or calling it an “invasion”, blaming the US and NATO for provoking the Kremlin. It has also blasted economic sanctions against Russia.
Since the start of the war, Beijing and Moscow’s economic ties have grown as Moscow’s ties with the West have shrunk.
The West has criticized China’s response to the Ukraine war, with some warning that a Russian victory could color China’s actions on Taiwan.
Relations between the US and China have further soured since Washington said China flew a spy balloon over the country before US warplanes shot it down at the behest of President Joe Biden.
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