The spokesman for the US State Department, Ned Price, assured in a press conference that China has “very clearly” sided with Russia and that, furthermore, the Beijing regime is “anything but an honest broker” in the efforts to bring peace to Ukraine.
Price added at the press conference that the Chinese regime has provided Russia with “diplomatic support, political support, economic support and rhetorical support.”
The State Department spokesman’s comment comes days after China called for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia and the start of peace talks as part of a 12-point proposal to end the conflict that began a year ago.
Beijing said it took a “neutral” position in the war, but also said it maintains an “unlimited friendship” with Russia and refused to criticize its invasion of Ukraine, or even refer to it as such. In addition, he blamed the West for provoking the conflict and “fanning the flames” by supplying Kyiv with defensive weapons.
According to the United States, China may be preparing to provide military aid to Russia, a claim that Beijing calls unfounded. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, the accusation is “nothing more than slander and defamation.”
There are questions about whether China can be seen as an honest broker.
China and Russia have increasingly aligned their foreign policies to oppose the US-led liberal international order. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirmed the strength of their bilateral ties when meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week.
Washington at the time reserved its opinion on the Beijing proposal. However, Price pointed out that the alliance between the two countries means that China was not a neutral mediator. “We would like nothing more than to see a just and lasting peace…but we are skeptical of reports that a proposal like this is a constructive way forward,” he said.
In the same sense, the United States reiterated on Sunday that “Crimea is Ukraine” and assured that it will “never” recognize its annexation by Russia, a message that comes when the Ukrainian government celebrated the Day of Resistance to the Occupation of Crimea.
“The United States does not and will never recognize Russia’s alleged annexation of the peninsula. Crimea is Ukraine,” Ned Price said in a statement.
Washington has been repeating the phrase “Crimea is Ukraine” since the peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014; But that statement takes on new meaning in light of the Russian invasion that began more than a year ago.
One of the questions facing the Joe Biden government is whether it would support the recovery of Crimea by the Ukrainian Executive, something that US press spokesmen refuse to clarify and often say that it depends on what Kyiv decides.
