By Phil Hall
In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden said that “the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.”
However, that’s not entirely correct. While the U.S. and the European nations have voiced their outrage and mobilized sanctions against Russia, China was the largest economic powerhouse not among those finding fault with Russia — even going so far as to insist the Russian army didn’t invade Ukraine.
“You are using a typical Western media question method of using the word ‘invasion,’” said Hua Chunying, spokesperson at China’s foreign ministry, at a press briefing, adding that Beijing was calling “on all sides to exercise restraint to prevent the situation from getting out of control.”
The leaders of five major economies have strayed from Biden’s lead by pointedly refusing to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin, preferring to maintain their respective economic relations with Russia rather than express outrage over the military invasion of Ukraine.
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Ukraine crisis: why India isn’t condemning Russia, unlike the rest of the Quad
By
Feb 22, 2022
As US allies lined up on Tuesday to denounce Russia’s recent actions in Ukraine, one voice was conspicuously absent from the multinational chorus of condemnation: India’s.
New Delhi’s ambassador to the United Nations told a Security Council meeting on Tuesday that the escalation of tensions in Europe was “a matter of deep concern” and had the potential to undermine regional security – but India has stopped short of criticising Russia’s actions or threatening to join in with US-led sanctions, as Japan and Australia have done.
This makes it an outlier among the members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, but its neutral stance is not entirely unexpected. Russia has long been a close defence partner, selling India some US$70 billion worth of weaponry since 1991, and Delhi has a policy of not commenting on others’ affairs.
Continue reading at www.scmp.com
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