MOSCOW/BEIJING - China told the United States on Monday to keep out of its relationship with Russia, just as Beijing’s top diplomat prepared for a visit to Moscow and possibly a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to discuss ideas for peace in Ukraine.

China is preparing to outline its position on a possible “political settlement” to the Ukraine war. This comes as Washington and Beijing spar over the shooting down of balloons over the US. The US also claims China could supply weapons to Moscow.

Russia’s Feb 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War II and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the planned visit by China’s top diplomat Wang Yi to Moscow, but gave no date for the trip.

“We don’t rule out a meeting between Mr Wang and the President (Putin),” Mr Peskov told reporters. “The agenda is clear and very extensive, so there is lots to talk about.”

A diplomatic source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters earlier that Mr Wang was expected in Moscow shortly and would discuss Chinese ideas for a political settlement of the Ukraine conflict as well as bilateral issues.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has stood by Mr Putin, resisting Western pressure to isolate Russia. Chinese-Russian trade has soared since the invasion of Ukraine, and Russia has sold Asian powers including China greater volumes of oil.

Mr Wang said last week that Beijing would put forward “China’s position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis”. He said Beijing remained on the side of peace and security.

Putin and Xi

The US casts China and Russia as the two biggest nation-state threats to its security. China is viewed by Washington as the gravest long-term “strategic competitor” and Russia as an “acute threat”.

Mr Putin and Mr Xi share a broad world view which sees the West as decadent and in decline just as China challenges US supremacy in everything from technology to espionage and military power.

China has refrained from condemning Moscow’s operation against Ukraine or calling it an “invasion”, in line with the Kremlin, which describes the war as a “special military operation” designed to protect Russia’s own security.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last Saturday warned Mr Wang of consequences should China provide material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, adding that Washington was concerned Beijing was considering supplying weapons to Moscow.

China hit back on Monday.

“The US is in no position to make demands of China,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular daily briefing in Beijing, when asked about Mr Blinken’s comments.

“China’s comprehensive collaborative partnership with Russia is based on non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties, and is a matter within the sovereignty of two independent countries,” he said.

When Mr Putin and Mr Xi met face to face just before the Ukraine conflict began, the two leaders sealed a “no limits” partnership between China and Russia that triggered anxiety in the West.

“We will never accept the US pointing fingers at Sino-Russian relations or even coercing us,” Mr Wang Wenbin told the briefing in Beijing.

At the annual Munich Security Conference, Mr Wang Yi accused the US of violating international norms with “hysterical” behaviour.

He reiterated a call for dialogue and suggested European countries “think calmly” about how to end the war.

He also said there were “some forces that seemingly don’t want negotiations to succeed, or for the war to end soon”, without specifying to whom he was referring. REUTERS