{"id":1354458,"date":"2022-03-02T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1354458"},"modified":"2022-03-02T08:09:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T13:09:59","slug":"china-claims-to-deeply-regret-ukraine-invasion-in-remarks-made-by-foreign-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-claims-to-deeply-regret-ukraine-invasion-in-remarks-made-by-foreign-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"China Claims to \u201cDeeply Regret\u201d Ukraine Invasion in Remarks Made by Foreign Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-claims-to-deeply-regret-ukraine-invasion-in-remarks-made-by-foreign-minister%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1354458&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/d68c969d-74fe-43c3-a1ef-8c7a633b0c9b-1110x740-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Do they? Perhaps, although not enough to refrain from using it to their advantage. Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister urged his counterpart in China to use their leverage to pressure Vladimir Putin to end the war and withdraw his troops back to Russia. According to AFP, China\u2019s foreign minister declared that Beijing \u201cdeeply regrets\u201d the Russian invasion. Or is it just the casualties from Russian targeting of civilians?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BREAKING?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#BREAKING<\/a> China&#8217;s foreign minister calls Ukraine counterpart, says &#8216;deeply regrets&#8217; Russia conflict: state media <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WzrWPLq4NF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/WzrWPLq4NF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 AFP News Agency (@AFP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AFP\/status\/1498660238123278340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">March 1, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to other news reports, though, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/china-does-not-call-out-russias-aggression-in-statement-urging-all-parties-toward-restraint-01646138104?mod=home-page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">China\u2019s regrets mostly focus on the casualties<\/a>, not Russian military aggression itself:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday reiterated China\u2019s call for the \u201creasonable security concerns\u201d of all countries to be respected, and assertion that the Ukraine issue has \u201ca complex reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s \u201clegitimate security demands should be taken seriously and properly addressed\u201d in the face of NATO\u2019s expansion eastward, Wang told reporters at a daily briefing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe express regret over the casualties. The current situation is not something we want to see,\u201d Wang said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>China has been playing coy for the last few days, following its traditional path of playing all sides against the middle while it searches for the biggest possible benefit for the Xi regime. In this case, though, the caution might have more immediate and practical causes. Apparently the Soviet \u2014 excuse me,\u00a0<em>Russian<\/em> \u2014 invasion took China by surprise to the point where <a href=\"https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/world\/2022\/03\/01\/China-starts-evacuating-citizens-from-Ukraine-Reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">they failed to get their own people out of the way<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>China has started evacuating its citizens from Ukraine, state media reported Tuesday, amid fears for their safety due to the invasion by Beijing\u2019s ally Russia but also reports of resulting hostility from angry Ukrainians.<\/p>\n<p>Some 600 Chinese students were evacuated Monday from Kyiv and the southern port city of Odessa, the state-run Global Times newspaper reported, citing the Chinese embassy in the Ukrainian capital.<\/p>\n<p>They travelled by bus to neighboring Moldova under an embassy escort and local police protection, according to the report, which cited an evacuee as saying the six-hour journey was \u201csafe and smooth\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>A further 1,000 Chinese nationals will leave Ukraine on Tuesday bound for Poland and Slovakia, both European Union member states, the report added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Oddly, they didn\u2019t even begin this process until the invasion kicked off Thursday:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>While countries including the US, UK and Japan evacuated diplomats and urged citizens to leave in the weeks before the invasion, China waited until Thursday before announcing it would organize charter flights to evacuate its nationals.<\/p>\n<p>But the flights have not yet materialized, and Ukraine later closed its airspace, leaving the Chinese ambassador to deny he had fled Kyiv and stress the need to \u201cwait until it is safe\u201d to evacuate during a Sunday video message.<\/p>\n<p>China has said around 6,000 of its citizens are based in Ukraine for work and study.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Why did China wait until the last minute, or actually beyond, to get its people out? Did they not know that Putin would invade, even after all the saber-rattling and the mass movement of troops to Ukraine\u2019s borders? An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stimson.org\/2022\/ukraine-did-china-have-a-clue\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">analysis at Stimson<\/a> from senior fellow Yun Sun postulates that Putin may have \u201cplayed\u201d Beijing. The failure to evacuate its citizens might be the strongest evidence that Xi got suckered:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Even after Russia sent troops on February 21, top Chinese experts still refused to believe a war was imminent. On February 22,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yicai.com\/news\/101324476.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an article<\/a>\u00a0titled \u201cWar Will Not Happen, But Frictions Will Continue\u201d was widely circulated in Chinese media. The theme was that a Russian invasion was not in the cards. On the same day, Professor Shen Yi of Fudan University gave\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/finance.sina.com.cn\/chanjing\/gsnews\/2022-02-24\/doc-imcwipih5192600.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a talk<\/a>\u00a0titled \u201cA war that will never happen: Ukraine through the lens of great power games among the U.S., Europe, and Russia.\u201d One of the most popular IR scholars in China, Professor Jin Canrong of Renmin University, who had predicted the impossibility of the war, posted his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/k.sina.com.cn\/article_6924720892_19cbedafc00101f45e.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">apologies<\/a>\u00a0on his social media on February 24 that he was \u201cwrong again\u201d in his prediction.\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The only prominent Chinese scholar who publicly predicted a war between Russia and Ukraine was Professor Tang Shiping from Fudan University.\u00a0<\/a>Based on the model about state behavior that he developed,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.uscnpm.com\/model_item.html?action=view&#038;table=article&#038;id=27230\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he predicted<\/a>\u00a0that there was a significant probability that Russia would invade Ukraine before the end of May.<\/p>\n<p>If scholars and experts do not count, the government officials\u2019 attitude will serve as stronger evidence of the Chinese lack of prior knowledge. According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/25\/us\/politics\/us-china-russia-ukraine.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Times<\/a>, in the past three months, Biden administration officials repeatedly reached out to their Chinese counterparts sharing information about Russia\u2019s impending invasion and were consistently rebuffed by senior Chinese diplomats, including the Foreign Minister and the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., who said they \u201cdid not think an invasion was in the works.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Skeptics might say that they were lying in order to cover up for Putin. However, according to Chinese nationals in Ukraine, the Chinese Embassy in Kyiv denied the possibility of a war as recent as the week of February 14 and had made no evacuation effort or plan until after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. In fact, the embassy only\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rfi.fr\/cn\/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD\/20220224-%E4%B9%8C%E5%85%8B%E5%85%B0%E6%88%98%E4%BA%8B-%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%87%86%E5%A4%87%E5%8C%85%E6%9C%BA%E6%92%A4%E4%BE%A8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">began to register<\/a>\u00a0the 6,000+ Chinese nationals in Ukraine the day after the invasion. After realizing that chartered planes were not an option due to the war, the embassy started to coordinate \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/news.sina.com.cn\/c\/2022-02-27\/doc-imcwipih5667910.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">other means<\/a>\u201d on February 27. Given the high importance of protecting overseas Chinese nationals in the war zones for Beijing (as repeatedly portrayed in the infamous \u201cWolf Warrior\u201d movie series), it is unthinkable that Beijing knew but did not bother to prepare.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s possible that China\u2019s claiming ignorance for its own strategic purposes, ie, to keep from getting hit with sanctions as an accomplice. However, incompetence is a a bad look for tyrants and autocrats, who have to create an atmosphere of superiority to keep upstarts from challenging their grip on power:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Other than this \u201cmirror image bias,\u201d the Chinese were also played by Russia. As manifested by the February 4 Joint Statement, the Russians had exhaustively and repeatedly explained their grievances over the expansion of NATO and that Russia had to take actions to address its \u201creasonable security concerns.\u201d The Chinese position in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.airuniversity.af.edu\/Portals\/10\/CASI\/documents\/Translations\/2022-02-04%20China%20Russia%20joint%20statement%20International%20Relations%20Entering%20a%20New%20Era.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joint Statement<\/a>\u00a0suggested its support of these two Russian positions. But as argued above, the Chinese did not expect a full Russian invasion, and they thought China would at most have to stand with Russia for its bluffing and coercion. As such, the understanding and support China rendered were qualified in the Chinese view and not meant to be a blank check for Russia to invade.<\/p>\n<p>This ambiguity is precisely where Putin played China. Where the Chinese meant limited support for Russia\u2019s \u201creasonable security concerns,\u201d Putin projected an image of Chinese support with \u201cno limits.\u201d That term was specifically used in the Joint Statement to describe their bilateral cooperation. The beauty of Putin\u2019s play is that China cannot rebuff and clarify they didn\u2019t know. If they do, it would be telling the world that China was played by Russia and their alignment is not nearly as solid as China wanted the U.S. to believe.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s precisely the problem Putin has now, or will have very soon, after his incompetent decision to invade Ukraine and expose the myriad weaknesses of the Russian military. It\u2019s possible that this is a head fake, but it\u2019s not likely.<\/p>\n<p>So what\u00a0<em>is<\/em> likely? Yun Sun could be correct that Putin sandbagged Xi on Ukraine. If so, Xi\u2019s taking it rather calmly, although actions over the weekend to cut off credit lines for Russian oil shipments <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/ed-morrissey\/2022\/02\/28\/oh-my-bank-of-china-cuts-off-russian-oil-trades-n451727\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sent a\u00a0<em>verrrryyy<\/em><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/ed-morrissey\/2022\/02\/28\/oh-my-bank-of-china-cuts-off-russian-oil-trades-n451727\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> interesting signal<\/a>. At the topline, though, Xi\u2019s probably trapped in his decision to sign what looks like the Soviet side of this new Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Xi\u2019s not above <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/world\/after-russia-invades-ukraine-china-says-us-support-for-taiwan-futile\/ar-AAUsRcS?ocid=uxbndlbing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">using it for his own ends<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>American support for Taiwan will be in vain, a Chinese government spokesperson has said, as a delegation of former U.S. officials landed in Taipei on Tuesday\u2014a move seen as President Joe Biden\u2019s way of reassuring the island nation\u2019s public following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. \u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe will of the Chinese people to defend our national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unwavering,\u201d China\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily press briefing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhoever the United States sends to show so-called support for Taiwan will be futile.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This sounds like a bluff, perhaps now more than ever. Xi just got a big whiff of Western unity erupting around a security provocation, which is precisely what he (and Putin) wanted to destroy. Also, Taiwan is better armed and an attack on it would have far more difficult lines of communication, and it\u2019s also been a very long time since China\u2019s military had to perform in the field against a skilled opponent. The West proved more resilient than Xi and Putin predicted, and now all sorts of new calculations will have to be made in both Moscow and Beijing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do they? Perhaps, although not enough to refrain from using it to their advantage. Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister urged his counterpart in China to use their leverage to pressure Vladimir Putin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1354458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1354458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1354458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1354458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1354458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}