US hopes China will play productive role in ending war in Ukraine
The United States expects China to play a productive role in ending the war and achieving peace in Ukraine, Matthew Miller, the spokesman for the US State Department, announced at a briefing.
According to him, China remains a strategic partner of Russia and this applies not only to the military-industrial base. The close ties between Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, including their meetings, underline this.
"So I can’t ultimately predict where it will go. What I can tell you is that when we have talked directly to the Chinese Government, we have said that ultimately we would hope that they could play a productive role in ending the conflict, but it needed to be a role that recognized who was the aggressor and who was the victim," Miller stated.
The spokesman of the State Department noted that it should be "not just getting peace for peace sake, but also getting peace that was a just peace and a lasting peace for that state of Ukraine." At the same time, he added that "ultimately, I can’t tell you what they’re going to do."
On May 22, the then British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said that American and British intelligence had evidence that China was preparing to provide lethal aid to the Russian Federation for use in the war against Ukraine.
On the same day, the US president's national security adviser said that Washington had no information about direct arms supplies from China to Russia.
On June 18, the Secretary General of NATO said that China must face the consequences of supporting Russia's war against Ukraine if it does not change its policy.
On July 4, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said China could help the West pressure Putin to stop the war in Ukraine.
On July 12, Joe Biden said that European allies are ready to reduce investments in China if it continues to support Russia.