China Says Certain Countries Must Stop ‘Fueling the Fire’ in Ukraine Conflict

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang delivers a speech during the Lanting Forum on the Global Security Initiative: China's Proposal for Solving Security Challenges held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (AP)
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang delivers a speech during the Lanting Forum on the Global Security Initiative: China's Proposal for Solving Security Challenges held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (AP)
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China Says Certain Countries Must Stop ‘Fueling the Fire’ in Ukraine Conflict

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang delivers a speech during the Lanting Forum on the Global Security Initiative: China's Proposal for Solving Security Challenges held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (AP)
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang delivers a speech during the Lanting Forum on the Global Security Initiative: China's Proposal for Solving Security Challenges held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (AP)

China is "deeply worried" that the Ukraine conflict could spiral out of control, foreign minister Qin Gang said on Tuesday, and called on certain countries to stop "fueling the fire" in an apparent dig at the United States.

Beijing, which last year struck a "no limits" partnership with Moscow, has refrained from condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The United States has warned of consequences if China provides military support to Russia, which Beijing says it is not doing.

"China is deeply worried that the Ukraine conflict will continue to escalate or even spiral out of control" Qin said in a speech at a forum held at the foreign ministry.

"We urge certain countries to immediately stop fueling the fire," he said in comments that appeared to be directed at the United States, adding that they must "stop hyping up 'today Ukraine, tomorrow Taiwan'".

"We stand firmly against any form of hegemony, against any foreign interference in China's affairs."

Qin's comments came as Russia's news agency TASS said China's top diplomat Wang Yi was due to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday and ahead of a "peace speech" President Xi Jinping is expected to deliver on Friday, the anniversary of the Ukraine invasion.

Also on Tuesday, China released a paper on the Global Security Initiative (GSI), Xi's flagship security proposal which aims to uphold the principle of "indivisible security", a concept endorsed by Moscow.

Russia has insisted that Western governments respect a 1999 agreement based on the principle of "indivisible security" that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others.

On Monday, Wang called for a negotiated settlement to the Ukraine war during a stopover in Hungary.

The same day, US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv in a show of solidarity, promising $500 million worth of military aid to Ukraine and additional sanctions against Russian elites to be unveiled in full this week.

Beijing has refrained from condemning Moscow's operation against Ukraine or calling it an "invasion" in line with the Kremlin, which describes the war as a "special military operation" designed to protect Russia's own security.

Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

'Lethal weapons'

The United States casts China and Russia as the two biggest nation-state threats to its security. Xi has stood by Russian President Vladimir Putin, resisting Western pressure to isolate Moscow

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Saturday that the United States was very concerned China is considering providing "lethal assistance" to Russia, which he told Wang "would have serious consequences in our relationship."

"There are various kinds of lethal assistance that they are at least contemplating providing, to include weapons," Blinken said in an interview with NBC News, adding that Washington would soon release more details.

The European Union's top foreign affairs official Josep Borrell on Monday warned against China sending arms to Russia, saying it would be a "red line", echoing statements from other European foreign ministers attending a meeting in Brussels.

Any Chinese weapons supplies to Russia would risk a potential escalation of the Ukraine war into a confrontation between Russia and China on the one side and Ukraine and the US-led NATO military alliance on the other.

Beijing has repeatedly accused Washington of escalating the conflict by supplying weapons to Ukraine. On Sunday during a meeting with Blinken on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Wang said the US "should promote a political solution to the crisis, instead of adding fuel to the fire".



France Holds Rare Defense Cabinet Meeting over Iran as Tensions with US Mount

Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
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France Holds Rare Defense Cabinet Meeting over Iran as Tensions with US Mount

Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo

French President Emmanuel Macron was convening key ministers and experts on Wednesday to discuss Iran, including its nuclear program, amid growing tensions between Tehran and US President Donald Trump, three diplomatic sources said, Reuters reported.

Such a cabinet meeting dedicated to a specific subject is rare and highlights mounting concern among Washington's European allies that the United States and Israel could launch airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities unless there is a quick negotiated deal on its nuclear program.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reinforced US military capability in the Middle East with more warplanes, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, amid a US bombing campaign against the Houthis who control much of Yemen and are supported by Iran.

A senior European official said European strategists were asking themselves whether the campaign could be a precursor to a US strike on Iran in the coming months.

Trump, who has urged Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to engage immediately in negotiations, threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if it did not come to an agreement over its nuclear program, which Western countries say amounts to weapons development.

The foreign minister of Iran's direct adversary Israel will be in Paris on Thursday. Diplomatic sources said ministers from France, Britain and Germany were hoping to discuss the Iran dossier with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio when they convene in Brussels for a NATO ministerial meeting this week.

Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.

Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal's limits on uranium enrichment, producing stocks at a high level of fissile purity, well above what Western powers say is justifiable for a civilian energy program and close to that required for nuclear warheads. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.

France, Britain and Germany have sought in recent months to raise pressure on Iran in a bid to coax it back into discussions over its nuclear program.

They have held several rounds of talks with Iran including at technical level last week, to try to lay the groundwork for some form of agreement.

But the Trump administration has focused initially on a campaign of "maximum pressure", and the Europeans have found coordination complicated, diplomats say.

The European powers had hoped to convince Iran to begin negotiating new restrictions on its nuclear activities with a view to having a deal by August at the latest.

That would give enough time to set new limits for Iran's program and lift sanctions before the 2015 accord expires in October 2025.