Tag: Wang Yi

  • Wang Yi, China’s top representative, visits Russia for security talks

    Wang Yi, China’s top representative, visits Russia for security talks

    China’s main diplomat Wang Yi is traveling to Russia to have discussions about security, as Moscow looks for ongoing assistance for its conflict with Ukraine.

    China, a strong friend of Russia, is being accused of indirectly helping Russia during the war. However, China denies these claims.

    He came to visit after Vladimir Putin met with Kim Jong Un from North Korea. The US was worried that they might make an agreement about weapons.

    Russian media reports that Mr. Wang’s trip will prepare the way for Mr. Putin to make an important visit to Beijing in the near future.

    Earlier this month, Mr Putin said he planned to meet with President Xi Jinping of China, but he did not specify the date or time of the meeting.

    Some people think it’s probable that he will go to the Belt and Road Forum in the upcoming month.

    He hasn’t gone to another country since the International Criminal Court said he did something wrong in March and wants to catch him for it. Putin last went to other countries in December 2022 when he visited Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.

    China’s foreign ministry stated that Mr. Wang is currently in Russia for four days to discuss and analyze matters related to strategic security.

    According to Russian news agency Tass, the Kremlin said that he would meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and the war in Ukraine would be an important topic of discussion.

    They will also talk about increasing the number of Nato forces and infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as improving their coordination in international organizations like the UN.

    China wants the Ukraine war to stop so it can fix its relationship with Europe. However, it doesn’t want to hold anyone responsible for the war because it supports Russia.

    She said inviting Putin to China is a way to show support for Russia. But supporting Russia must also be seen as an effort to get Russia to the negotiating table. This is important so that China doesn’t make its position worse with the Europeans.

    Mr Wang’s visit follows a few days after Mr. Putin’s very much talked-about greeting of Mr. Kim in the far east of Russia. The US claimed that the purpose of this visit was to discuss the sale of weapons from North Korea to Russia. It is believed that Moscow doesn’t have enough weapons and ammunition.

    Russia and North Korea recently discussed helping each other with military activities and providing assistance for North Korea’s satellite program.

    Mr Kim has finished his trip to Russia, according to the Korean Central News Agency on Monday. According to Russian and North Korean media, he is going home with some gifts which include a Russian-made gun, a glove worn by an astronaut, a vest that protects against bullets, a hat made of fur, and some military flying machines.

    When asked about Mr. Kim’s trip last week, China’s foreign ministry chose not to comment, stating that it was “something between their two countries. ”

    But some experts think that if North Korea and Russia are supporting each other, China probably knows about it or even approves of it, because China has strong relationships with both countries.

    These relationships go beyond socialist beliefs and their common lack of trust in the US and the West. Beijing has been a crucial source of economic support for Pyongyang by trading with them. In recent times, Beijing has also started buying more Russian oil and gas, which has become significant for Moscow.

    Whatever is going on between Russia and North Korea cannot happen without China knowing about it. According to Alexander Korolev, an expert on the relationship between China and Russia, I don’t believe they would work together in military matters without Beijing’s permission.

    China might consider North Korea as a helpful ally for Russia in the Ukraine conflict.

    Allowing North Korea and Russia to work together in the military is a way for Russia to benefit without damaging its reputation much. It might say that North Korea’s bad government is to blame, even though other people aren’t involved. “He said it would be a good idea if this happens. ”

    Mr Wang is visiting Russia after meeting with Jake Sullivan in Malta. In addition to the relationship between the US and China, the two men also talked about security in the region and the war in Ukraine, as stated by the US and China.

    Mr Korolev said it is uncertain if China would put pressure on North Korea to stop cooperating, even though the US is discussing this with China. “If China wanted to follow America’s approach, they had more than a year to end the war but they chose not to,” he said.

    The US has accused China of helping Russia with money and important technology since the war started.

    A report from US intelligence, published in July, stated that Beijing is using different ways to help Russia’s economy, in order to reduce the impact of sanctions from Western countries and restrictions on exports.

    This text mentions that China is buying more energy from Russia, using its currency more for transactions with Russia, and likely providing technology that can be used for both civilian and military purposes, like drones, to Ukraine.

    China has always denied these claims and says it stays neutral in the war.

    The country has made its own plan to bring peace to Ukraine. They shared the plan when their leader visited Moscow and met with the President earlier this year.

  • China’s senior ambassador travels to Russia over Biden’s visit to Ukraine

    China’s senior ambassador travels to Russia over Biden’s visit to Ukraine

    Monday’s meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky took place while China’s top diplomat was moving in the opposite direction, towards Moscow.

    This week, Wang Yi, who was appointed last month as Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser, is scheduled to arrive in Moscow for the last leg of his eight-day European tour. Wang Yi’s visit highlights China’s attempts at diplomatic balancing since Russia’s tanks entered Ukraine a year ago.

    The Kremlin has said it does not “rule out” a meeting between Wang and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. If they do meet, the images of Wang and Putin shaking hands inside the fortified Kremlin will be a stark juxtaposition to Biden’s open-air stroll with Zelensky through Kyiv amid air raid sirens.

    The optics of the two trips – taking place just days before the one-year anniversary of the brutal war on Friday – underscores the sharpening of geopolitical fault lines between the world’s two superpowers.

    While relations between the US and China continue to plummet – most recently due to the fallout from a suspected Chinese spy balloon that entered US airspace, China and Russia are as close as ever since their leaders declared a “no-limits” friendship a year ago – partly driven by their shared animosity toward the United States.

    And as the US and its allies reaffirm their support for Ukraine and step up military aid, Beijing’s deepening partnership with Moscow has raised alarms in Western capitals – despite China’s public charm offensive in Europe to present itself as a negotiator of peace.

    At the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Wang addressed a room of European officials as “dear friends” and touted China’s commitment to peace, while apparently attempting to drive a wedge between Europe and the US.

    “We do not add fuel to the fire, and we’re against reaping benefits from this crisis,” Wang said in a thinly veiled dig at the US, echoing the propaganda messaging that regularly made China’s nightly prime-time news program – that the US is intentionally prolonging the war to advance its own geopolitical interests and increase the profits of its arms manufacturers.

    “Some forces might not want to see peace talks to materialize. They don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians, nor the harm on Europe. They might have strategic goals larger than Ukraine itself. This warfare must not continue,” Wang said.

    He urged European officials to think about “what framework should there be to bring lasting peace to Europe, what role should Europe play to manifest its strategic autonomy.”

    Wang also announced Beijing’s plan to release its proposition on a “political settlement of the Ukraine crisis” around the first anniversary.

    But the vague mention of the proposal was met with suspicion from some Western leaders who are closely watching for any support China lends to its northern neighbor – especially assistance that could help Russia on the battlefield.

    “We need more proof that China isn’t working with Russia, and we aren’t seeing that now,” European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen told CNN Saturday.

    Such suspicions are compounded by claims by US officials that Beijing is considering stepping up its partnership with Moscow by supplying Russia’s military with “lethal support.”

    “We’ve been watching this very closely,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told “Face the Nation” on CBS in Munich on Sunday.

    “The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support, and we’ve made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship,” Blinken said.

    Responding to the accusations Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry blasted the US for “shoving responsibility, shifting blame and spreading false information.”

    “It is the US side, not the Chinese side, that supplies a steady stream of weapons to the battlefield. The US side is not qualified to lecture China, and we would never accept the US dictating or even coercing pressure on Sino-Russian relations,” a ministry spokesperson said at a regular news conference.

    “Who is calling for dialogue and peace? And who is handing out knives and encouraging confrontation? The international community can see clearly,” the spokesperson said.

    US officials have been concerned enough with the intelligence that they shared it with allies and partners in Munich, according to CNN reporting. In a meeting with Wang on the sidelines of the conference Saturday, Blinken also raised the issue and warned Wang about its “implications and consequences,” according to a US readout.

    The US accusations, if true, would mark a major escalation in China’s support for Russia – and usher in a dangerous and unpredictable new phase in the war itself.

    Previously, Beijing had carefully avoided actions that could trigger secondary sanctions, which would deal a devastating blow to an economy hampered by three years of costly zero-Covid policy.

    Though China claimed impartiality in the conflict and no advance knowledge of Russia’s intent, it has refused to condemn Moscow and parroted Kremlin lines blaming NATO for provoking the conflict.

    And while Beijing’s pro-Russian rhetoric appears to have softened in recent months, its support for Moscow – when measured by its annual trade, diplomatic engagements and schedule of joint military exercises – has bolstered over the past year.

    Chinese officials have often calibrated their narrative to different audiences. Wang may have made many appealing pledges during his Europe tour, but whether they will be translated into a consistent message to be delivered to Putin when the two meet is another question.