LOS ANGELES.–Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told European Union [EU] Foreign Affairs Chief Kaja Kallas that China can’t accept Russia losing the war in Ukraine. Covering a broad range of topics that “featured tough but respectful exchanges, covering a broad range of issues from cyber security, rare earths to trade imbalances, Taiwan and the Middle East, Yi emphasized China’s investment in Russia winning the Ukraine War. EU officials pretended that China was neutral in the Ukraine War, thinking that China saw the war as a Russian act of aggression. But China has said many times to the EU that the United States under former President Joe Biden encroached on Russian national security, the same thing Biden did in the South China Sea and the indo-China region. What doesn’t the EU get that China is an ally of Russia and back Russian President Vladimir Putin?
Brussels had taken the position that the Ukraine War was all Russia’s fault, calling it a naked land grab, not accepting the geopolitical conditions that led to the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion. Putin tried to discuss with Biden for months before the invasion new security arrangements for Ukraine, all of which were dismissed by Biden. Putin told Biden that if they couldn’t agree on new security arrangements or Ukraine he would have to implement a “special military operation,” to demilitarize the region. Biden kept supplying Ukraine lethal offensive weapons over Kremlin objections until Putin was forced to move troops in Ukraine. Biden said the war was “unprovoked and unjustified,” claptrap used to justify funding proxy war with the Kremlin. Biden unilaterally ended decades of diplomacy, détente, arms control and global cooperation with the Russian Federation.
China wanted the West to understand that while they wanted the Ukraine War to end at the earliest possible time, they understood why Putin moved in his armed forces into Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping didn’t like Biden trying to create a NATO-like coalition of Indo-Pacific nations opposed to China’s expansion in the South China Sea. “China is not a a party to the Ukraine issue,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mao Ning. “China’s position on the Ukraine cris is objective and consistent, that is, negotiation, ceasefire and pause. A prolonged Ukraine crisis servevs no one’s interests,” Ning said. EU officials, like French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer all blame Russia for unbridled aggression. Brussels does not take a neutral position on the Ukraine War.
China wants the U.S. to know that it won’t tolerate U.S. encroachment in the Indo-European region, its backyard. Biden told Xi in 2022 that if he invaded Taiwan, the U.S. would supply troops to defend Taiwan. Biden never offered to defend Ukraine but, over three years of war, backed proxy war with the Kremlin. When President Donald Trump took over Jan. 20, he reversed the Biden policy, no longer supplying cash-and-arms to Ukraine, other than what had been promised before. Putin understands Trump’s change in policy no longer pits the U.S. against Russia, opening up normal U.S.-Russian relations. While Putin didn’t like Trump intervention in Iran, he still appreciates all his efforts to bring about peace in Ukraine. Trump’s personal envoy has met directly with Putin four times to understand Putin minimum conditions for a casefire and peace talks.
Ning said that China seeks a quick resolution to the Ukraine War, preferring to stay neutral compared to the EU that takes Ukraine’s side. “Together with the international community and in light of the will of the parties concerned, we ill continue playing a constructive role toward the end,” Ying said. When it comes to the international community as defined by the EU, they all, with few exceptions, back Ukraine. Macron, Merz and Starmer all fear more Russian encroachment on EU territory in the future. Ukraine’s 47-year-old president Voldymyr Zelensky insists that Putin has his eyes on other European countries if Ukraine loses the war. So, unlike China, Brussels takes the position that Russia is an enemy of the EU, looking to expand its territory westward. Putin has said emphatically he seeks nothing other than stopping the West from arming Ukraine.
EU officials have all but sabotaged Trump’s attempts to bring peace to Ukraine. When Trump sent Witkoff to meet with Putin directly several times, Zelensky got cold feet, ran to the EU and claimed Trump had sold Ukraine down the river. No one in the EU has any clout with Putin, having taken a position against Moscow. Putin confided in Trump to get the conditions necessary to end the Ukraine War. Zelensky doesn’t trust Trump to negotiate with Putin in good faith for Ukraine. Trump said that Ukraine was excluded from NATO membership, something Zelensky has asked for years. His constant efforts to join NATO helped drive Putin to invade Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022. Trump wants Zelensky to trade land-for-peace, something Zelensky refuses to do, even though he’s lost the land to Russia in three years of war. EU officials have undermined Trump’s work to bring about peace.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news he’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma
