While Biden visits Ukraine, China’s top diplomat heads to Moscow

• Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi visits Moscow.
• Chinese Foreign Ministry said, stay firm on the side of dialogue & peace and work constructively for de-escalation.”
• Officials in Washington, D.C. are concerned that China may contemplate providing Moscow with “lethal support.”

The unexpected visit to Kyiv by US President Joe Biden on February 20 will be followed by a visit to Moscow by top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi. Both visits take place in the days leading up to the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Biden presented a $500 million aid package for Ukraine and new penalties on individuals who support Russia’s war in Ukraine during his meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Officials in Washington, D.C. are concerned that China may contemplate providing Moscow with “lethal support,” such as weaponry, according to various sources.

“We’ve been keeping a careful eye on this,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS during the Munich Security Conference. According to Blinken, the United States has previously observed Chinese enterprises offering non-lethal assistance to Russia.

Redline

In an interview, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated that “it would be a red line” if China supplied lethal aid to Russia.

“We welcome the Chinese announcement that they want peace because that’s what we always want to pursue in situations like this,” she said. “But we also have to be clear that if there are any thoughts and efforts by the Chinese and others to provide lethal support to the Russians in their brutal attack against Ukraine, that is unacceptable.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Feb. 20 that they will “stay firm on the side of dialogue & peace and work constructively for de-escalation.”

However, the Chinese government has avoided criticizing Russia outright for the full-scale invasion, going as far as to declare, “It is the U.S., not China, that has been pouring weapons into the battlefield in Ukraine. The U.S. is in no position to tell China what to do. China will never accept US finger-pointing or coercion on China-Russia relations.”

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