China rejects accusations from Britain that Beijing provides lethal weapons to Russia, saying that London and its allies are “adding fuel to the fire”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on May 23 accused the UK and its allies of “adding fuel to the fire” in the conflict in Ukraine but blamed other parties.
His comments came after London accused Beijing of providing “lethal aid” to Russia in its military campaign against Kiev.
British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps on May 22 accused Russia and China of “cooperating on combat equipment for use in Ukraine”. Mr. Shapps also said that he had “new evidence” provided by US and British intelligence agencies that showed “lethal aid is flying from China to Russia”.
Commenting on the above allegation, Mr. Wang condemned the “baseless and irresponsible smear campaign against China by British politicians”, emphasizing that Mr. Shapps’ comments were not supported by Washington.
Speaking at the daily press conference at the White House on May 23, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Washington has not seen any evidence of China directly providing weapons to Russia.
“It is the UK, not China, that is adding fuel to the fire in the Ukraine issue… As early as two years ago, Russia and Ukraine were close to reaching an agreement to end the conflict, but precisely because of the barriers and Obstacles placed by the UK and other parties caused the conflict to continue to this day,” Mr. Uong accused.
Mr. Wang emphasized that Beijing “always stands on the side of peace and dialogue”, and pledged that China will continue its efforts to promote a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Over the past two years, China has maintained a neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war and continuously called for all parties to sit at the negotiating table.
Previously, the US and its allies had accused China of providing Russia with dual-use items, indirectly helping Moscow increase its military production capacity.
China denies this information, saying that Beijing and Moscow have the right to trade goods. China also believes that it is the West that is providing lethal weapons to Ukraine but makes accusations against Beijing.
China calls on the US, UK and the West to find ways to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table, instead of trying to blame other countries.
