Germany stresses China’s “special responsibility” over Ukraine

BERLIN/BEIJING (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stressed China’s “special responsibility” with regard to Ukraine in a telephone call with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the ministry said on Twitter on Saturday.

China had abstained on Friday from vetoing a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would have deplored Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, a move Western countries viewed as a win for showing Russia’s international isolation.

Wang said China supported NATO, the European Union and Russia in resuming dialogue on building a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism, China’s foreign ministry said.

“China does not support the use of sanctions to solve problems and is opposed to unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law,” it quoted Wang as saying on the call, in a statement issued on Sunday.

“We believe that the Council should contribute to a political solution to the current crisis, rather than instigate new confrontations,” Wang said on the call.

China had been preventing the use of expressions authorising use of force and sanctions, he added.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Muyu Xu; Editing by Alison Williams and Clarence Fernandez)