China warns of weapons ‘pouring into Ukraine battlefields’

The country’s UN ambassador Dai Bing tells the Security Council peace should be the priority and says some countries ‘lack sincerity’ in supporting talks
The US and more than 30 countries have been supplying Ukraine with arms in the year since Russia invaded

Ukraine war

Cyril Ip

Published: 6:00pm, 7 Feb 2023

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China has expressed concern about heavy weapons “pouring into the battlefields” of Ukraine and accused unnamed countries of “lacking sincerity” in promoting peace talks.

At a United Nations Security Council briefing on Ukraine on Saturday, Chinese ambassador Dai Bing urged all countries to prioritise humanitarian issues and help “regain peace at an early date”.

“China once again calls on relevant parties to bear in mind the interest of the people, strive to promote peace, and try every possible way to push parties to the conflict to resume peace talks and end the war at an early date,” said Dai, adding that China “always stands on the side of peace, dialogue, and humanity”.

Dai added: “Conflicts on the ground show no signs of easing up, the logic of a military solution still prevails, and a large number of heavy weapons keep pouring into the battlefields,” in a seeming reference to the US and other countries stepping up arms supplies to Ukraine.

“The international community deplores the humanitarian cost of the conflict. But the parties concerned lack the sincerity to promote peace talks and the determination to resolve the issue politically,” Dai added.

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On Friday US President Joe Biden approved an additional US$425 million of security assistance to Ukraine, bringing the total amount of military aid to Kyiv under the Biden administration to US$30 billion.

The latest round includes mortar rounds, artillery rounds, ammunition, heavy machine guns and rockets from the Pentagon’s stockpiles.

Another US$1.75 billion was granted to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds, a separate channel that covers areas, such as radars, systems, training funding, as well as other types of arms.

“The United States will continue to work with its allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements,” the Pentagon said on Friday.

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More than 30 countries have provided military equipment to Ukraine since Russia invaded a year ago, including Germany and Britain, which recently agreed to provide Leopard and Challenger tanks respectively.

Hungary and Austria jointly stated last week that they will not provide Ukraine with military supplies to prevent further escalation, but will help war victims and supply humanitarian aid.

“At a time when armed conflicts still persist, priority should be given to humanitarian issues,” Dai continued. “We encourage the international community to continue to uphold the humanitarian spirit, scale up the relief to all affected people, and speed up the repair of civilian infrastructure, in order to mitigate the impact of the conflict on people’s lives.”

02:44

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Beijing has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion but has called for sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected and criticised Western sanctions on Moscow.

Dai repeated that criticism over the weekend, saying: “In an era of increasing integration and globalisation, wilful sanctions and artificial blocking of the flow of industrial and supply chains will only exacerbate the rippling effect of the crisis, and inflict heavy costs on the whole world, especially developing countries.”