New Delhi: China has responded strongly to the statement of US President Donald Trump urging the NATO nations to place 50-100 per cent tariffs on Beijing until the Russia-Ukraine war ends. Responding to this, the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said that China does not participate in or plan wars; what it does is to promote peace talks. “Sanctions would only complicate the situation”, he said.
The remarks, reported by China Daily, were made by Wang in a press conference in Ljubljana on Saturday, after a meeting with Slovenia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tanja Fajon.
“China does not participate in or plan wars, and what China does is to encourage peace talks and promote political settlement of hotspot issues through dialogue,” Wang Yi said.
He also said that China and Europe should be friends rather than rivals. “We should cooperate rather than confront each other. Making the right choices amid the greatest changes in a century demonstrates the responsibilities that both sides should fulfil towards history and the people,” Wang Yi said in a report published by the Global Times.
The response came soon after Trump’s statement, where he asked all countries, particularly NATO nations, to join US in imposing major sanctions on Russia.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations Stop Buying oil from Russia. As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100 per cent, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia. Anyway, I am ready to “go” when you are,” Trump said in social media platform Truth Social.
“I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50 per cent to 100 cent tariffs on China, to be fully withdrawn after the War with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ending this deadly, but ridiculous, war. China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip,” the post read.