China Daily Editorial
Foreign Minister Wang Yi made China’s pro-peace stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict unequivocally clear through a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings he held with foreign leaders and officials on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York over the past week.
In the meetings, the foreign leaders and officials of other peace-loving countries not only supported Beijing’s stance but also pledged to work together to help resolve the Ukraine crisis through political means. That is conducive to countering the United States’ disinformation campaign accusing China of being the “enabler” of Russia in the conflict.
In a ministerial meeting of the newly formed “Friends of Peace” platform on the Ukraine crisis he co-hosted with other officials at the UN Headquarters on Friday, Wang rightly pointed out that neither war nor hatred can help resolve the crisis, urging the world to choose peace over war, reconciliation over hatred, and dialogue over confrontation.
With the Russia-Ukraine conflict showing no signs of ending even after more than two and a half years, Wang urged the two parties to give peace a chance. The “Friends of Peace” platform is not about taking sides in the conflict or promoting bloc confrontation. Instead, it is meant to expose the US, which in the guise of “value diplomacy”, has been prolonging the conflict by providing weapons, military equipment and material aid to Ukraine.
By doing so, the US aims to kill three birds with one stone – weaken Russia; tighten Washington’s grip over Europe; and incriminate China. The US doesn’t want peace to be restored in Eurasia or European countries to feel secure, because it is the only party which stands to gain from the conflict commercially and strategically.
As a result, the US has been smearing pro-peace countries, including China, Brazil and other nations that have formed the “Friends of Peace” platform, while pretending to be neutral. That Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Kyiv values China’s stance on the crisis and its efforts to help restore peace shows that Washington’s smear campaign is divorced from reality and actually is a part of the US’ overall China-containment strategy.
Just like in the Middle East crisis, the key to resolving the Ukraine crisis lies with the US. If Washington wanted to restore peace, it should not have ignored China’s suggestions, especially because China has been, right from the beginning, advocating for peace and has maintained good relations with both Russia and Ukraine.
Since the world is divided on the Ukraine crisis, the UN Security Council should take the initiative to resolve the differences and contradictions between Moscow and Kyiv, as Wang said at a UN Security Council high-level meeting on the Russia-Ukraine conflict last week.
China did not start the Russia-Ukraine conflict nor is it a party to it. Any attempt to blame, attack or smear it for the conflict, therefore, would be an act of devilishness. As Wang said, the international community should join hands to uphold the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and resist the exploitative attempts of some countries.
– Xinhua
