China fears US will turn focus on it if Russia suffers defeat in Ukraine war: Report

Beijing: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told EU leaders that Beijing does not want to see Russia losing its war with Ukraine because the US would then shift its whole focus towards China, a candid admission that surprised officials in Brussels, a media report said.

Wang’s comment during his talks with EU's Kaja Kallas would confirm what many in Brussels believe to be Beijing’s position, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Friday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Friday parried the question about Wang’s comments on the Russia-Ukraine war at a media briefing here, reiterating Beijing’s stand on the conflict. Wang is currently on a tour of the EU.

Some EU officials involved were surprised by the frankness of Wang’s remarks, the Post reported.

However, Wang is said to have rejected the accusation that China was materially supporting Russia’s war effort, financially or militarily, insisting that if it was doing so, the conflict would have ended long ago.

During a marathon, four-hour debate on a wide range of geopolitical and commercial grievances, Wang was said to have given Kallas – the former Estonian prime minister who last year took up her role as the bloc’s de facto foreign affairs chief – several “history lessons and lectures”.

Some EU officials felt he was giving her a lesson in realpolitik, part of which focused on Beijing’s belief that Washington would soon turn its full attention eastward.

One interpretation of Wang’s statement in Brussels is that while China did not ask for the war, its prolongation may suit Beijing’s strategic needs, so long as the US remains engaged in Ukraine, the Post reported.

The three-year Russia-Ukraine conflict remains one of the biggest sources of friction between China and the bloc, which has long criticised Beijing for supplying dual-use items to Russia.

EU bloc is set to blacklist two small Chinese banks for flouting its sanctions on Russia in its 18th package of measures against Moscow, which is awaiting final approval from its 27 member states.

On this point, Wang repeatedly vowed to retaliate if the lenders were ultimately listed.

Recently, China and the EU clashed on Chinese restrictions on the export of rare earth elements and magnets, which have caused some European companies to halt manufacturing lines.

The Europeans got no reassurances from Wang that a structural end to the crisis was in the works, the Post report said.