Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen criticized China for supporting Russia in its war against Ukrain, adding that China and Russia’s close cooperation with North Korea and Iran “has huge global consequences.”
She said this in an interview with POLITICO on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Ukrinform reports.
“I don’t think it would be possible for Russia to have a full-scale war for more than two-and-a-half years now without help from China,” she said. “We cannot continue a situation where China helps Russia in a war … in Europe, without consequences. They have to be held responsible for their activities,” she said.
In her opinion, the consequences for Beijing should be of a political nature.
“We have tried with all actors on the global season to have good cooperation — we tried it with Russia, buying their gas and their oil, building up diplomatic, normal political relationships. It did not work; they attacked a European country.
“I think we have tried to do the same with China — to have normal cooperation between partners on different aspects and topics. We cannot allow ourselves to be naïve … You cannot go back to the situation before the war in Ukraine and the same goes for China now,” Frederiksen said.
She called for a rethink when it comes to EU trade with China, saying Europe had become overly dependent on the country.
Frederiksen warned the West about Russia’s intentions, especially given the ongoing discussions that Ukraine would be forced to give up part of its land in order to reach a peace deal with Moscow.
“Do you really believe that Russia would just say, ‘OK, thank you,’ and then do nothing else? I don’t. We need to push Russia one day to negotiate on peace, but it has to be driven by a wish for Russia to actually have peace,” she said.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, Mette Frederiksen previously stated that Ukraine’s allies should stop hesitating and allow the weapons provided to the embattled nation to be used for strikes inside Russia. After all, the most important red line that Vladimir Putin crossed was when he invaded Ukraine.
Source: Russia wouldn’t be able to wage long war without China’s help - Danish PM
