China says embassy in Ukraine operating as normal, calls for ‘all parties to be rational’
- Foreign ministry spokesman urges countries ‘not to make moves that will hype up the situation’
- Remarks follow US warning over the weekend that Russia could invade Ukraine ‘any day now’
“All parties should solve any problems relating to the Ukraine crisis through dialogue and negotiations,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing. “We urge all parties to be rational, and not to make moves that will stimulate and hype up the situation.”
It comes amid heightened anxiety over Russia’s build-up of more than 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday said Russia could launch military action in Ukraine “any day now”. Media reports have cited US and European intelligence officials as saying that Russia could be planning to invade Ukraine as soon as Wednesday, but Sullivan said the exact date could not be predicted.
Moscow has denied having any such plan, calling such warnings “hysteria”, but there is mounting international concern that Russia might be gearing up for war. Russia has asked Nato to bar Ukraine from joining and to withdraw its forces from eastern Europe.
China has also called on the parties involved to return to the Minsk II agreement signed in 2015 that aimed to end the separatist war by Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. That deal, which followed the unsuccessful Minsk I agreement, has not been fully implemented and has so far failed to resolve the conflict.
Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation have intensified, with world leaders holding talks with both Russia and Ukraine.
