Envoy: China's only Ukraine desire is peace

China's ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday stated that his country is not pursuing geopolitical goals in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but that its "only one goal" is peace.

"China does not seek geopolitical self-interest," said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, during a UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine. "It is not our mindset to watch the situation indifferently from the sideline, let alone do anything to add fuel to the fire.

"There is only one goal we sincerely look forward to, and that is peace. China will continue to promote peace talks and play a constructive and responsible role in helping resolve the crisis in Ukraine," he said. 

"As we have stressed many times, dialogue and negotiation is the only way leading to the door for peace," Zhang said, noting that the Russian Federation and Ukraine have had rounds of negotiations.

Zhang said the international community "should create favorable conditions and environment for negotiations between the two sides, open up space for political settlement, and should not set up obstacles for peace, let alone add fuel to the fire in aggravation of confrontations. Every effort should be made to prevent the escalation of the local conflict," he said. 

China attaches great importance to the humanitarian issues in Ukraine and supports all initiatives and measures conducive to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine,  Zhang said. 

"As the conflict continues, we call on the parties to abide by international humanitarian law, protect the safety of civilians and civilian facilities, minimize civilian casualties, ensure safe and smooth humanitarian corridors for evacuees and humanitarian assistance, and guarantee the basic rights of women, children and wounded and detained fighters," said Zhang. 

The envoy stressed that humanitarian issues should not be politicized.

"International humanitarian agencies should maintain neutrality and impartiality, actively mobilize and coordinate more resources and make unremitting efforts to save lives and protect civilians," he said. 

Zhang pointed out that China has provided and "will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and its neighboring countries".

He emphasized that under international humanitarian law, civilians should be spared of any form of violence in armed conflicts. Attacks against civilians are unacceptable, he said. 

"The reports and images of civilian deaths in Bucha are deeply disturbing. The relevant circumstances and specific causes of the incident should be verified and established. Any accusations should be based on facts. Before the full picture is clear, all sides should exercise restraint and avoid unfounded accusations," Zhang said. 

"Sanctions are not an effective means to solve the problem but will instead accelerate the spillover of the crisis and bring new and complex problems," he said.

Zhang said the implementation of all-dimensional and indiscriminate sanctions is "tantamount to politicizing, instrumentalizing and weaponizing the world economy, and those sanctions have triggered a serious crisis in many fields, including global economy and trade, finance, energy and food". 

"The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected, and small-and medium-sized countries should not be pushed to the forefront of confrontation between great powers," Zhang said. "All countries have the right to decide their foreign policy independently and should not be forced to take sides. The security of all countries is indivisible, and the security of one country cannot be achieved at the expense of the security of others.

"We call upon the United States, NATO and the European Union to engage in comprehensive dialogues with Russia to face head-on their differences accumulated over the years, find solutions to the problem and promote the building of a balanced, effective and sustainable regional security framework," the ambassador said.