UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26 — China’s permanent representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun said Friday that any action by the UN Security Council should be truly conducive to defusing the Ukraine crisis.
“Any action should be truly conducive to defusing the crisis, rather than adding fuel to fire,” Zhang made the remarks after the council failed to adopt a draft resolution on Ukraine proposed by the United States and some other countries.
“If not properly handled, or blindly exerting pressure and imposing sanctions, it may only lead to more casualties, more property loss, more complicated and chaotic situations, and more difficulties in bridging differences,” the ambassador said.
Zhang said China is deeply concerned about the latest developments in the situation in Ukraine. Currently, it has come to a point that China does not want to see, he noted.
China always forms its own position based on the merits of the matter at hand, the envoy said, adding that China advocates that all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected and that the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be jointly upheld.
“We have always called on all parties to seek reasonable solutions to address each other’s concerns through peaceful means on the basis of equality and mutual respect. We welcome and encourage all efforts for a diplomatic solution, and support the Russian Federation and Ukraine in resolving the issue through negotiations,” said Zhang.
Zhang pointed out that in the past week, the Security Council has held two emergency meetings, and parties have fully elaborated on their positions and concerns on the current situation.
“At present, faced with the very complex and sensitive situation, the Security Council should make a necessary response. At the same time, such a response should also be extremely cautious,” the ambassador added.
If the Ukraine issue cannot be solved in a proper way, Zhang said, “it may completely shut the door to a peaceful solution, and eventually it is the vast number of innocent people that will be the victims.”
“We must draw profound lessons from the extremely painful experience in the past. For this reason, China abstained in the voting just now,” he added.
Zhang stressed that the Ukraine issue is not something that only emerged today, nor did the current situation occur suddenly overnight. It is a result of the interplay of various factors over a long period of time.
“China advocates the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security,” he said, adding that one country’s security cannot be at the expense of the security of others and that regional security should not rely on muscling up or even expanding military blocs.
The legitimate security concerns of all countries should be respected. Against the backdrop of five successive rounds of the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russia’s legitimate security demands should be given attention to and properly addressed, Zhang said.
Ukraine should become a bridge between the East and the West, not an outpost for confrontation between major powers, Zhang added.
China strongly calls on all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint, ease tensions, and avoid civilian casualties, Zhang said. “The final settlement of the Ukraine crisis still requires abandoning the Cold War mentality, giving full attention and respect to the legitimate security concerns of all countries, and conducting negotiations to build a balanced, effective, and sustainable European security mechanism,” he said.
China urges all parties to immediately come back to the track of diplomatic negotiations and political settlement, show sincerity and goodwill, make a political decision and engage in dialogue and consultation for a comprehensive settlement of the Ukraine issue, he noted.
The Security Council has held multiple emergency meetings since the recent escalation of the Ukraine situation. In the voting, this time, the United States and other members of the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution while Russia vetoed it. China, India, and the United Arab Emirates abstained from voting. (Xinhua)
