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| China's Wang Yi, state councillor and foreign minister, waves as he leaves a news conference in Tokyo on Nov 24, 2020. (File photo by=Reuters/Issei Kato, Pool) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] BEIJING: China's Red Cross will provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine "as soon as possible", Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday (Mar 7), as he praised his country's friendship with Russia as "rock solid", Reuters reported.
China has refused to condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine, or call it an invasion, while asking Western countries to respect Russia's "legitimate security concerns". Wang said that the causes of the "Ukraine situation" were "complex" and had not happened overnight, noting, using a traditional Chinese expression, that "three feet of ice does not form in a single day". China has already done "some work" to promote peace talks and has all along been in contact with all sides, he added. Wang said that the friendship between China and Russia was "rock solid" and prospects for cooperation bright. China proposes that "humanitarian action" must abide by the principles of neutrality and impartiality, and humanitarian issues should not be politicised, he added.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Chinese President Xi Jinping hours before the start of last month's Winter Olympics in Beijing, and they signed a wide-ranging strategic partnership aimed at countering United States influence, saying that they would have "no 'forbidden' areas of cooperation".
