President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the world must always support proactive measures to prevent violence.
He said this on Saturday at the 19th Asia Shangri-La Dialogue Security Summit, answering a question about what can be done to counter China’s campaign of economic and military coercion against Taiwan.
“I think that today’s example of Ukraine is an example for the whole world. The world must always support any action related to pre-emptive measures so that there is no war,” he said.
According to Zelensky, “there is no positive from the war in the world. No one gets a positive, except for some political leaders who daily increase their ambitions because of their political appetite.”
“The world should decide everything diplomatically. Support states that need it. Do not leave this or that state alone with another state, which may be stronger financially, territorially, in terms of weapons. If problems can be solved by diplomacy, they must be solved,” he said.
“But do not turn on after the war starts, when there are tens and hundreds of thousands of victims. The war does not benefit anyone except the ambitions of some people,” Zelensky stressed.
According to Olivia Enos, senior political analyst at the Center for Asian Studies, the Chinese delegation left the hall during Zelensky’s speech.
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Friday at a meeting with Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin said that Beijing is ready for military action if anyone makes an attempt to separate Taiwan from China, reports the Chinese edition of Global Times, citing a representative of the defense departments of the People’s Republic of China Wu Qian.
“According to Wu Qian’s statement, Wei Fenghe said that if anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate to fight and resolutely suppress any attempt at ‘Taiwan independence’ at any cost, and will firmly defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” , – writes the edition.
According to him, the Chinese defense minister also condemned the recent US decision to send arms to Taiwan again. He stated that this “caused serious damage to China-US relations, as well as peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin held a bilateral meeting on Friday in Singapore, where a security forum is being held. According to Chinese media company Caixin, Wei Fenghe noted that the meeting lasted about an hour and was “honest and successful.” The Pentagon said that the parties discussed issues of global and regional security, the topics of the DPRK, Russia and Ukraine, as well as Taiwan.
“The minister stressed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, rejection of a unilateral change in the status quo, and urged China to refrain from destabilizing actions against Taiwan,” the ministry said in a statement.
