Sending weapons to Ukraine will add fuel to war: China at UN

New York: China's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dai Bing, on Thursday, said that sending weapons to Ukraine will only add fuel to the war and will escalate the tension instead of bringing peace.

Addressing the eleventh emergency Special Session on Ukraine in the UN, China's deputy ambassador, hinting towards West countries, said, "The international community should make joint efforts to facilitate peace talks when aired into the Ukraine crisis, brutal facts offer ample proof that sending weapons will not bring peace adding fuel to the fire will only exacerbate tensions."

"Prolonging and expanding the conflict will only make ordinary people pay an even heftier price. We reiterate our appeal that diplomacy and negotiation cannot be abandoned efforts towards a ceasefire and talks must go on," he added.

Dai urged the international community, rather than fending off the flames and seeking self-interest, they should "stop abusing Unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction." Instead, they should act in a way conducive to de-escalation.
China's deputy ambassador's remarks came after Putin met with China's top diplomat Wang Yi in Moscow.

Putin has said he is suspending participation in New START -- the only remaining major nuclear arms control treaty with the US -- and sought to blame the West for the Ukraine conflict.

According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, unanimously passed a bill on suspending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

The bill passed the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, earlier Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced it.

According to TASS, the decision to restore Russia's participation in New START can only be made by Putin.

At the UN, China's deputy ambassador said that peace talks should be the international community's priority. Echoing comments from China at the Munich Security Conference, Dai said that China regretted that initial negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow had stalled.

"Dialogue and negotiation is the only viable way to resolve the Ukraine crisis," Dai said. "At the beginning of the crisis, Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of talks and made important progress. Regrettably, peace talks have since stalled. The reasons behind this warrant deep reflection."

"We support Russia and Ukraine moving towards each other, resuming direct dialogue as soon as possible, bringing their legitimate concerns into the negotiations, setting out feasible options, putting an early end to the crisis and giving peace a chance," he added.

Laying out the four points to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Dai said that the top priority should be to facilitate ceasefires and secession of hostilities without delay. Conflicts and wars have no winners the longer the brutality, the greater the human suffering. Secondly, he pointed out that "dialogue and negotiation" is the only viable way to resolve the Ukraine crisis

In the third point, he urged the international community to make efforts to bring peace instead of bringing weapons. And the last one is to pursue common security and achieve lasting peace.

Dai concluded his speech with the statement, "As a responsible country, China always stands on the side of peace and dialogue and always advocates peace and promotes talks. China will soon issue a position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. We're ready to continue playing a constructive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis and bringing about peace at an early date."