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Letters | It’s time China sees Russia’s actions in Ukraine for what they are – a cause of mass suffering
- China’s claim it supports efforts to prevent a large-scale humanitarian crisis in Ukraine are at odds with the reality of Russian troops killing Ukrainians
- Its insistence it respects sovereignty and territorial integrity will also ring hollow if it supports Russia taking Ukrainian territory through force
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In his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on March 30, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China supported Moscow’s efforts to prevent a large-scale humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
Ten million people, a quarter of the population of Ukraine, have been displaced. Four million have fled the country. This is the biggest movement of people in Europe as a result of a conflict since World War II. Many children in Ukraine are living in basements. Thousands of people in Mariupol are without food, water and electricity, many too old to flee.
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There have been more than 70 separate attacks on hospitals, ambulances and doctors in Ukraine, according to the World Health Organization. If this is not a large-scale humanitarian crisis, then what would one look like?
What has Russia done to try to prevent this crisis? Insisted that its demands, which it set before the conflict, be met. Meanwhile, Ukraine has shown it is willing to make concessions. Russia says the explosion at an oil depot in Russia, which it blames on Ukraine, will not help peace negotiations while it continues to shell Ukrainian cities.
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China says time will show it is on the right side of history. If Russia is victorious in this conflict, then Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk – all previously Ukrainian territories – will be part of Russia or Russian-controlled.
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