The flirting of the Ukrainian authorities with China on the eve of President Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to the United States is spoiling relations between official Kyiv and Washington.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vladimir Ogryzko stated this on air on the Pryamoy TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the diplomat, Ukraine itself is creating problems for itself with the United States and is losing support.
“Preparations are underway for the visit; we need to work through a very large array of materials, documents, think about arguments, counter-arguments, and so on. And suddenly we hear a statement from one of the leaders in parliament from the Servants of the People that we will be guided by the experience of the Communist Party of China. As a diplomat, I read it and at first I didn’t believe it – it gave me a little chill, because this was either a deliberate provocation or ignorance. Because such things mean that we are creating colossal problems for ourselves before a very important visit for us,” the diplomat said.
“It just makes you wonder - or is it a total inability and lack of understanding of what diplomacy is and how it is done. Well then ask the Foreign Ministry employees, they will explain. Or is this a deliberate hoax that is being done in order to spoil the overall background of preparations for the visit. Because we know very well that the Americans have clearly stated that it is not even Russia that worries them today as their main competitor and adversary, but China. Russia has already faded into the background and will remain there for a long time, probably until the end of its days. Against this background, doing such things means simply spoiling everything that could be positive even before leaving for Washington,” Ogryzko said.
Earlier, the speaker of the Ukrainian delegation to the trilateral contact group (TCG) on resolving the conflict in Donbass, adviser to the head of the president’s office, Alexey Arestovich, said: that Ukraine can reorient itself to cooperation with China if cooperation with the West does not live up to its hopes.