Stop blame game so China, US can work together to end conflict, says Chinese official

WASHINGTON • Washington and Beijing can cooperate to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict despite their different approaches, the Chinese embassy in Washington said this week.

"I believe that China and the US can cooperate on the Ukraine issue," Mr Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the embassy, told reporters at a virtual press briefing on Wednesday.

Mr Liu said that although China and the United States have different positions on and approaches to the Ukraine issue, the two sides "need to cooperate".

To forge that cooperation, Mr Liu said the "blame game" should stop and the "accusations" should be solved, and that China has been telling the US that instead of imposing unilateral sanctions - which Beijing opposes - it may need a better way to reach out to all parties.

The immediate outcome must be "to solve the crisis now, because we have to stop the loss as soon as possible, and we don't want the situation to escalate to the extent that we cannot control", he said.

The conflict should be ended in such a way that Russia and Ukraine can come to "the middle way" and reach an agreement through negotiation, he said.

"They have their concerns," Mr Liu added. "If the concerns have been addressed, I think they could end the military action, and then they go back to the negotiating table."

XINHUA