China refuses to condemn Russia
At a daily news briefing here, spokesman Wang Wenbin reiterated China's position that while it respected the territorial integrity of all countries, it also understood "Russia's legitimate concerns on security issues".
Beijing: China is still declining to condemn Russia, with its Foreign Ministry on Friday refusing to call the military action against Ukraine an “invasion”.
At a daily news briefing here, spokesman Wang Wenbin reiterated China’s position that while it respected the territorial integrity of all countries, it also understood “Russia’s legitimate concerns on security issues”.
He added that China still recognised Ukraine as a legitimate state and believed the door to a political solution still had not shut but did not give suggestions on how dialogue could take place, BBC reported.
He also did not say whether or not Beijing would recognise the self-declared breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of Ukraine.
The BBC asked for a response to US President Joe Biden’s comment that “any nation which countenances Russia’s aggression in Ukraine will be stained by association”.
Wang responded that the “country whose reputation will be stained is that which interfered in other nation’s internal affairs in the name of human rights and which went on to wage wars”.
In terms of sanctions, he said that since 2011, the US had imposed more than 100 sanctions on Russia, yet they had not worked, and that sanctions would only cause suffering.
