By Erika Na, South China Morning Post
- The comments by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Secretary of State Antony Blinken are Beijing’s first overt show of support for Moscow on the matter
- It has been revealed that China is being kept updated by Russia on security talks with the US and Nato
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on the US to respect Russia’s security concerns over Ukraine, in a show of solidarity with Moscow as it faces mounting opposition to its stance towards its neighbour.
Delivered by Wang to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken by telephone on Thursday, the comments were the furthest China has gone so far in supporting Russia’s position on Ukraine.
Russia, which has been building up its forces on Ukraine’s borders for months, has demanded that Nato pull back troops and weapons from eastern Europe and bar Ukraine, a former Soviet state, from ever joining the security alliance – a stipulation that Nato has rejected.
