China has stated that it does not want to be impacted by Russian sanctions

China Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Image Credit.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing is 'not a party in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as pressure mounts on Moscow to withdraw its assistance.

According to official media, China's foreign minister told his Spanish colleague that his country does not want to be affected by Western economic sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine last month.

"China is not a party to the conflict, and even less so does it wish to be affected by the sanctions," Wang Yi said, according to a transcript of a phone call with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares posted on Tuesday.

He went on to explain that China opposes sanctions in principle and "has the right to protect its lawful rights and interests," and that the nearly three-week crisis in Ukraine is "the outcome of the accumulation and intensification of European security conflicts over time."

"I have talked to my counterpart from China, Wang Yi, on the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the methods to end it," Albares said on Twitter.

The conversation took place as pressure mounted on China to withdraw its support from an increasingly isolated Russia, which has been slammed by a slew of punitive sanctions imposed by the US and its Western allies.

The call's readout did not include recent claims by US officials that Russia had urged China for military and economic assistance after the war began on February 24. Previously, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman denounced the reports as "malicious" US disinformation.

Separately, the ministry provided little details on what Yang Jiechi, director of China's primary foreign affairs commission, talked with US President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during a marathon meeting in Rome on Monday.

According to the statement, the two had "frank, in-depth, and constructive" talks, especially over the fragile relations between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan. Yang was quoted as saying that the US administration was not following through on its promise to desist from backing Taiwan's independence.

He also warned that Washington recognize how sensitive the Taiwan issue is and refrain from going down a "very dangerous route."

China considers the self-governing democratic island republic to be a part of the People's Republic and has vowed to retake it by force if it declares independence formally. The United States is dedicated to Taiwan's defense capability and provides it with armaments.

However, the White House said Sullivan made it plain during the "intense" seven-hour conversation that the Biden administration is deeply concerned about China's current alliance with Russia.

Earlier in the discussions in Rome, Sullivan advised China not to assist Russia in evading sanctions that have crippled the Russian economy. "We will not allow that to happen," he declared.

Russia has denied that it requires Chinese help.

"No, Russia has its own potential to continue the operation," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. "As we have indicated, the operation is unfolding in accordance with the plan and will be completed on time and in full."

Source: Aljazeera