China, Beijing –As international scrutiny of the two countries’ warming relations intensifies, China denied on Thursday that it had requested Russia postpone its invasion of Ukraine until after the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Beijing has been very careful about what its close ally does. President Xi Jinping met with his Russian counterpart last month and agreed to work together with “no limits.”
Beijing has not criticized the invasion of Ukraine since then, but has refrained from expressing its backing.
People who work for US Vice President Joe Biden and a European official told the New York Times on Wednesday that Chinese authorities had told top Russian officials not to attack Ukraine before the Winter Olympics were over.
According to the report, Beijing was aware of Russia’s military preparations or intentions before the invasion’s launch last Thursday, four days after the Olympics’ closing ceremony.
Beijing denied the claim during a news conference on Thursday.
“The New York Times article is a pure fabrication. Such diversionary, blame-shifting statements are completely terrible, “Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.
In the weeks before the attack on February 24, Chinese state media often dismissed Western warnings as US “hype.” China did not send its people out of Ukraine, and it didn’t leave its people behind.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Xi for the first time in over two years and was a special guest at the Winter Games’ opening ceremony.
On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that called on Russia to leave Ukraine “immediately.”
China was one of 35 nations that abstained, while just five countries voted against it: Eritrea, North Korea, Syria, Belarus, and Russia.
According to the United Nations, the fighting has forced more than one million people to escape Ukraine.