China reiterates call for peace between Russia, Ukraine through talks

BEIJING - China has always supported Russia and Ukraine to overcome difficulties and continue negotiations, and welcomes all efforts by the international community to promote peace, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a regular news briefing in response to a query on United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' recent visit to Russia and Ukraine.

"We welcome Guterres' mediation efforts to ease the tension between Russia and Ukraine. China has always supported Russia and Ukraine to overcome difficulties and continue negotiations, and welcomes all efforts by the international community conducive to promoting peace talks," Zhao said.

"It has been more than two months since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out, and the spillover effects of the conflict are becoming increasingly obvious and worrying," Zhao said, adding that China has noticed that the European people are calling for an early end to the conflict through dialogue and peace talks.

Noting that the prolonged war and sanctions against Russia have caused energy prices in the Eurozone to rise by 44.7 percent year on year, the spokesperson said inflation is rising and ordinary people have been increasingly affected. "In contrast, U.S. arms dealers, grain merchants and traders have made a fortune."

Zhao said under the current circumstances, the international community should insist on upholding unity rather than division, democracy rather than hegemony, dialogue and consultation rather than unilateral sanctions, and objectivity rather than taking sides.

"We should work together to promote the end of conflicts and bring peace at the earliest. China is ready to work with other parties to continue playing a constructive role in this regard," he added.

Responding to the recent remarks of John Aquilino, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, that the cooperation between China and Russia is of concern, Zhao said one of the successful experience of China-Russia relations is that the two sides have gone beyond the military and political alliance model of the Cold War.

The two sides have always been committed to developing a new type of international relations following the principle of non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of any third party, the spokesperson added. "This is fundamentally different from the Cold War mentality of certain countries that insist on forming small circles and pursuing the zero-sum game."

The United States has violated its commitment and continuously promoted NATO's eastward expansion, and thus takes unshirkable responsibility for the Ukraine crisis, Zhao noted.

He added that while the UN and the international community are calling for an end to the conflict, the United States continues to add fuel to the flames, clamoring to fight to the last Ukrainian.

The United States has also continued to provide funds and weapons to Ukraine, the spokesperson said.

"The real purpose of the United States is not peace, but to make the conflict continue. As the United States itself has said, its goal is to weaken Russia," Zhao said.