China backs Russia over Ukraine

As the crisis in Ukraine unfolds with Russian military troops fanning out around the Crimean peninsula, Russian diplomats yesterday asserted that China supports Russia's actions in the former Soviet Republic.

Throughout this week China has refrained from making more than vague noises over the Ukraine situation, which has brought Western countries into a new diplomatic boycott of their former Cold War enemies.

Qin Gang, China's foreign ministry spokesperson, said China believes in non-interference in internal affairs and is taking into consideration historical facts as well as the complexity of the situation. 

Nonetheless, the new-found camaraderie between the two Communist nations is perhaps underlined by the fact that China is seeking compensation of $3 billion from Ukraine for the breach of a contract to supply grain against loans provided by Beijing in 2012. (See: China sues Ukraine for breach of $3-bn loan-for-grain contract).

According to Russia, the foreign ministers of the two countries talked by telephone on Monday in which they broadly agreed on the situation in Ukraine; implying that Russia has China's support for its military actions in the country.

The Chinese foreign ministry was predictably more muted, saying China respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and that all parties should use dialogue and negotiation to preserve peace in the region. 

But Chinese news media coverage has been more pointed. China's Global Times said in an editorial this week that ''the Ukrainian situation shows us clearly that in the international political arena, principles are decided by power''.

In another commentary, China's semi-official Xinhua news agency argued that the West's ''biased mediation has polarized Ukraine and only made things worse in the country''.

Media comments suggest that war in Ukraine would endanger China's investments there, and its comments this week may be a delicate balance between offering some support for its neighbour Russia, without directly backing military intervention from any side that could throw the region into more chaos.

(See: Russia shows signs of cooling down Ukraine escalation)