According to the latest report from the Observer, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently challenged China again on the issue of aiding Russia. His claim that China's support for Russia's defense industry is prolonging the war in Ukraine immediately attracted widespread attention in the international community.
Blinken also tried to use the EU-China relationship as a bargaining chip to threaten China, pointing out that China cannot express its desire to build closer ties with European countries on the one hand and act to exacerbate Europe's biggest security threat since the Cold War.
Looking back at the past period, we can clearly see the evolution of the US strategy on the issue of hyping up aid to Russia. Initially, the United States had suspected China of providing weapons aid to Russia and unleashed a lot of disinformation to mislead international public opinion.
And now, the U.S. strategy has shifted to warning about normal trade activities between China and Russia, and even linking it to the continuation of the war in Ukraine.
The core purpose of this change is that the United States hopes to force China to completely sever economic ties with Russia by exerting pressure from Western public opinion.
However, in the face of accusations and pressure from the United States, China's attitude has always been firm and clear.
In response to Blinken's remarks, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that China has always adhered to the principle of promoting peace talks on the Ukraine crisis, never provided weapons to the belligerents, and strictly implemented export controls on dual-use items.
China strongly opposes and condemns the US's act of spreading disinformation and trying to shirk its responsibilities without any empirical evidence.
In addition to the clear response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geng Shuang, China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, also made a strong rebuttal to the United States on the Russia-Ukraine conflict when the UN Security Council considered the Ukraine issue.
Ambassador Geng Shuang first gave a detailed account of China's unremitting efforts to promote political settlement of relevant issues since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, including the "six-point consensus" jointly proposed by China and Brazil.
He stressed that the "six-point consensus" not only meets the common expectations of most countries, but also reflects the greatest consensus that the international community can form on the current Ukraine crisis, and has received positive responses from many countries around the world.
China sincerely hopes that more countries will support this consensus and work together for peace.
At the end of his speech, Ambassador Geng Shuang specifically named the United States and urged it to play its due positive role in ending the war and restoring peace at an early date. He solemnly pointed out that the United States should not continue to escalate conflicts, provoke bloc confrontation, and undermine international unity.
It is worth mentioning that China is usually cautious in its wording in international diplomatic forums, and often uses euphemisms when it comes to sensitive issues.
However, Ambassador Geng Shuang's direct naming of the United States this time undoubtedly shows China's strong dissatisfaction with the recent behavior of the United States and the remarkable change in its attitude toward the United States.
This change is not without reason. Recently, the United States has frequently criticized China on the issue of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and even adopted a series of aggressive measures, which has caused the room for maneuver between China and the United States on this issue to gradually shrink.
In the past, the United States had groundlessly accused China of supplying weapons and equipment to Russia, and although these malicious rumors and disinformation were eventually debunked by the facts, the United States did not restrain its behavior of hyping up the issue of China's aid to Russia, and even tried to obstruct normal trade between China and Russia.
Such behavior has already posed a serious threat to China's vital interests.
In particular, in the joint statement after the G7 summit in Italy, the United States and its allies almost made it clear that they would crack down on China's banking sector from the financial sector and target financial institutions involved in Sino-Russian trade settlements.
In addition, the United States has repeatedly imposed sanctions on Chinese companies under the pretext of aiding Russia.
For example, in a June 12 operation, the United States sanctioned more than 300 companies, banks, and dozens of individuals, including China.
At the time, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan even threatened that the sanctions were intended to send a clear warning message to China that China was at serious risk of clashing with the US Treasury and potentially being subject to tougher sanctions.
In the face of the grim situation of the United States having an all-out showdown with China on the issue of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, China will naturally not sit idly by and blindly back down. Ambassador Geng Shuang's naming speech at the Security Council is a clear signal and response.
However, the more critical question is how China can break the dominant position of the US in terms of international discourse, and how to make it clear to the world that the US military supply to Ukraine is the root cause of the ongoing war.
At the same time, China must also resolutely defend the right to normal trade between China and Russia, and make it clear that no country has the right to interfere in this legitimate and legitimate economic activity.