BEIJING, March 2. /TASS/. The European Union’s refusal to facilitate diplomatic talks on Ukraine is not rational, head of the Chinese mission to the European Union Fu Cong said in an interview with the Global Times newspaper published on Thursday.
"It is true that we do not agree fully on some European positions on Ukraine. For example, many top leaders of the European side say that now is not the time to negotiate. Is this a rational approach? We cannot stand completely with the EU, but we do not want the Ukraine issue to affect the development of China-EU relations," Fu Cong pointed out.
According to him, "diplomacy is not an emotional thing." "People can have wishes, but they must also face reality. The art of diplomacy is to choose the lesser of two evils. This is what we have to work on. Otherwise, the war will protract," the envoy noted.
On February 24, the Chinese Foreign Ministry published a 12-point document clarifying Beijing’s position on finding a political solution to the Ukrainian issue. China said that talks were the only way to resolve the crisis and called on all parties to encourage Moscow and Kiev to resume direct dialogue as soon as possible. In addition, China called for preventing a further escalation of tensions, keeping the Ukrainian crisis from spiraling out of control and contributing to easing the situation until fighting ended. The document also emphasized the need to ensure the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries. In addition, China called for abandoning the Cold War mentality, opposing bloc confrontation and taking the reasonable interests and security concerns of all nations into account. Beijing also stressed that the security of any country could not be ensured at the expense of the security of other countries.