‘US Stoking India-China Tensions, Beijing Can Mediate On Ukraine But Ties With Russia Crucial’: Foreign Minister Wang Yi

NEW DELHI: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi had some advice for India during a briefing on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on Monday. The boundary question needed to be resolved through “fair and equitable consultation,” he said, also underscoring his discomfort with the India-US relationship.

“As we have seen, some forces have sought to stoke tension between China and India. Only by staying independent can we realise our goals of development and formulate our own destiny. As an Indian proverb says, help your brother’s boat across and your own will reach the shore,” he said.

He then turned to Ukraine, indicating that China is ready to mediate on the crisis but then added a strange caveat: the China-Russia relationship is “rock solid” and one of the most “crucial bilateral relationships in the world.” Russia was already doing its bit to solve the Ukraine crisis, he said pointing to two rounds of talks between the opposing sides.

“China and Russia are both permanent members of the UNSC and each other’s close neighbours and strategic partners,” he said, “Our relations are one of the most crucial bilateral relations in the world as they help promote peace, stability and development in the world,” with that he signalled a broadside at “bloc politics” of the Indo Pacific thanks to the United States.

The US was maneuvering to establish an “Asian Nato” in the Indo Pacific, he said, indicating that Washington was seeking to impose its hegemony rather than work for a multilateral world order. Multilateralism, Wang Yi stressed, was the only way to build a “joint community” by which key issues could be solved.

The US spoke with two faces, he said, touting “regional cooperation” and “returning to multilateralism” while continuing to foment geo-political rivalry through “exclusive clubs which continued to suit itself and its acolytes. From peddling the Five Eyes, the Quad, from piecing together AUKUS to bilateral military alliances the US is staging a 5,4,3,2 formation in the region. This is a sinister move to upset regional peace.”

He insisted that Taiwan and Ukraine were different issues. “Most fundamentally Taiwan is an integral part of China and the Taiwan question is entirely China’s affair. The Ukraine issue has risen from a contention between two countries – Russia and Ukraine. Some people who are being vocal about the sovereignty on the Ukraine issue have kept undermining China’s sovereignty on the Taiwan question. This is a blatant act of double standards,” Wang Yi said.