China refuses to call Russian attack on Ukraine an ‘invasion’, deflects blame to United States

China’s Foreign Ministry has refused to call Russia’s attack as an “invasion” during a news conference Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an attack on Ukraine early on Thursday. Explosions have since been seen in the Capitol, Kyiv, and in several other major Ukrainian cities.

According to CNBC, Ukraine President Volodimyr Zelenksyy had called the violence as an invasion to destroy the country. Many foreign leaders have since made statements condemning Russia’s actions, including the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

However, China’s assistant foreign minister, Hua Chunying, responded to reporters with frustration. She said, “The U.S. has been fueling the flame, fanning up the flame, how do they want to put out the fire?”

She also added that Russia is an “independent major country” that can take its own actions. Chunying cited previous Russian statements that claimed Russian armed forces would not strike Ukrainian cities. However, Russia has since attacked the Ukrainian cities of Odessa, Kharkiv, and Mariupol, and it has been reported that dozens of soldiers and several civilians were killed as of Thursday afternoon.

Chunying said, “China is closely following the development of the situation. What you are seeing today is not what we have wished to see. We hope all parties can go back to dialogue and negotiation.”

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine begam, Tong Zhao, a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, based in Beijing said, “China is clearly sympathetic to Russian perspectives. China thinks that it’s the NATO expansion and other threats from the U.S. and NATO” that have prompted Russia to defend “its legitimate interests.” He added, “In other words, I think China feels Russia feels it is forced to do what it is doing.”