China’s envoy to Ukraine yesterday said that current conditions were too unsafe to evacuate citizens, days after the embassy said it would prepare plans to help people leave after the Russian invasion.
In a lengthy video message on the embassy’s WeChat account, Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong (范先榮) sought to dispel rumors that he had left Kyiv and reassure Chinese nationals left stranded in the war-torn country.
“We must wait until it is safe before leaving,” Fan said from his office, seated in front of a Chinese flag and what appeared to be a fold-out camp bed frame. “As long as safety conditions are met and everyone’s safety is guaranteed, we will make appropriate arrangements.”
Photo: AP
The UN has said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on Thursday, has forced almost 150,000 people to flee to neighboring countries.
In the weeks before, multiple countries, including the UK, the US and Japan, evacuated diplomats and urged citizens to leave as fears of war grew.
China, which has refrained from condemning its close ally Russia throughout the crisis, waited until Thursday before announcing that it would prepare charter flights to evacuate its citizens.
However, Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights the same day, citing the high risk from weapons.
“These past few days, like everyone else, we constantly heard sirens, explosions and gunshots, and we repeatedly hid in the basement. These are the kinds of scenes we only previously saw in movies,” Fan said.
He also urged Chinese citizens to “not quarrel with locals,” after a number of unverified social media claims of rising hostility toward Chinese citizens from Ukrainians.
“The Ukrainian people are in a difficult position and are suffering very much,” he said. “We must understand their feelings and not provoke them.”
On Saturday, the embassy urged its citizens to “refrain ... from displaying signs of identification,” just days after telling those leaving Kyiv to clearly fix a Chinese flag to their vehicles.
China has previously said there were about 6,000 Chinese nationals in Ukraine for work and study.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) told German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock in a Saturday call that China does not support sanctions and that Russia’s “legitimate security demands should be properly addressed.”
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