China refused to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine, instead urging restraint by “all parties” and repeating criticism that the U.S. was to blame for “hyping” the prospect of war in Eastern Europe in recent days. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying instead said the “historical context is complicated” and that the current situation is “caused by all kinds of factors”. “China is closely following the latest developments,” Hua said on Thursday, adding: “We still hope that the parties concerned will not shut the door to peace and engage instead in dialogue and consultation and prevent the situation from further escalating.
”China has blamed the US and its western allies in recent weeks for “hyping up” the crisis, with Hua saying at an earlier briefing on Wednesday that the US was “adding fuel to the fire”. Chinese official media has continued to call the full-throttle attack on Ukraine by Russia as a “special military operation”, the phrase used by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zhang Jun, Chinese ambassador to the UN, called on all parties involved in the crisis to remain restrained and avoid escalating the situation any further. “China believes that the door to a peaceful solution to the Ukraine issue has not been completely closed and should not be closed. At present, to avoid intensifying conflicts, China will continue to promote peace and talks in its own way,” Zhang was quoted by state-controlled media as saying. China has already strongly criticised the sanctions imposed by western countries on Russia with Hua calling them “illegal unilateral sanctions”