Xi Jinping gave “his word”: China will not give weapons to Russia, according to Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged not to supply weapons to Russia in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

“I had a telephone conversation with the Chinese leader. He said he would not sell any weapons to Russia. We will see,” Zelensky said during a news conference with President Joe Biden at the summit. G7 in Italy. Thursday, without specifying when the discussion took place. “He gave me his word.”

Beijing and Moscow maintained close ties throughout Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and declared a “no-holds-barred” partnership in February 2022, days before the start of the war. China has not publicly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade the Eastern European country and has maintained it is taking a neutral stance on the war.

“By the way, China is not providing weapons but the capacity to produce those weapons and the technology available to do so, so they are actually helping Russia,” Biden added Thursday after Zelensky finished speaking.

News week contacted the foreign ministries of Russia and China for comment by email.

The United States warned its allies in April that China was providing Russia with satellite imagery to help Putin's army in that war.

“Amid signs of continued military integration between the two nations, China has provided Russia with satellite imagery for military purposes, as well as microelectronics and machine tools for tanks, according to people close to the file,” Bloomberg reported on April 7, citing anonymous sources. sources.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng, during her visit to China in early April that there would be “significant consequences” for Chinese companies supporting China's war. Moscow against Ukraine.

“Secretary Yellen emphasized that businesses, including those in the PRC [People’s Republic of China]must not provide material support for Russia's war against Ukraine…and the significant consequences if they do so,” the Treasury Department wrote on its website.

In February, Wang Yi, foreign minister and head of the Chinese Communist Party's foreign affairs commission, told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba that Beijing was not supplying weapons to Russia in this war.

China's position on the conflict “adhers to the political solution of sensitive issues, insists on promoting peace and talks, does not add fuel to the fire, does not take advantage of opportunities, and does not sell “deadly weapons to conflict zones or parties to conflict,” Wang said.

Xi is Putin's closest major ally. In an interview with Chinese state media in October, the Russian president said his Chinese counterpart “calls me his friend and I call him my friend.”

The Russian president added that there is a saying: “Tell me who your friend is, and I will tell you who you are.” » He added: “Therefore, if I congratulate President Xi Jinping now, I will somehow feel uncomfortable. – it’s as if I’m praising myself. So I will try to be objective.

Putin described Xi as “one of the recognized world leaders” who does not “make a momentary decision based on a current situation, he assesses the situation, analyzes it and looks to the future.”

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