China denies telling Vladimir Putin to delay Ukraine invasion until after Winter Olympics
China vehemently denied that Xi Jinping asked Vladimir Putin to delay a potential invasion into Ukraine until after Beijing has finished hosting the Winter Olympic Games.
Recent media reports quoted an anonymous diplomatic source saying that the Chinese president may have suggested this to his Russian counterpart in a call last month when he invited him to attend the Games.
Zhao Lijian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, on Monday dismissed the report as “sheer fiction”.
He said in daily press remarks: “The report was purely made out of thin air. It seeks not only to smear and drive a wedge in China-Russia relations, but also to deliberately disrupt and undermine the Beijing Winter Olympics. Such a despicable trick cannot fool the international community.”
State media then piled on the following day, accusing foreign media of trying to hurt relations between Beijing and Moscow.
Wendy Sherman, the US deputy secretary of state, said on Wednesday: “I think that probably President Xi Jinping would not be ecstatic if Putin chose that moment to invade Ukraine, so that may affect his timing and his thinking.”
China is preparing to host the Winter Games, due to kick off on Feb 4. The competition is a moment for Beijing to make a big splash in a major political year when Mr Xi is expected to further cement his grip on power.
As such, Beijing is pulling out all the stops to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.
China has advocated a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis, backing calls by the United Nations to observe the UN Olympic Truce resolution during the Games.
In a call between the two leaders last month, Mr Xi also said that he backed Mr Putin’s demands over Ukraine, including no new Nato membership and a withdrawal of weapons from countries that border Russia.
The Chinese president also called for “more joint actions” between Russia and China “to effectively safeguard security interests”.
In 2014, the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia ended just three days before Moscow marched into Crimea. And in 2008, Russian troops entered Georgia on the eve of the Beijing Summer Olympics.
Mr Putin on Tuesday wished his country’s athletes “triumphant performances” at the Winter Olympics as he criticised the diplomatic boycott announced by several global powers.
Russian athletes are allowed to compete as neutrals – without the Russian flag or anthem – if they can prove their doping record is clean.
Beijing and Moscow have denounced the diplomatic boycott from several countries, including the US and Britain, over what Western governments argue are widespread rights abuses by China.
Russia was found to have used a state-backed doping programme at the 2014 Sochi Games and was banned from international competitions afterwards.
Russian officials, including Mr Putin, are banned from attending international competitions unless invited by the head of state of the host country.
