By Zhongsheng

Recently some American politicians and media have been busy smearing and slandering China on the Ukraine issue by fabricating and spreading disinformation, but such contemptible buck-passing and rumor-mongering hit a wall of iron-clad facts. Instead of exculpating America from its responsibilities for the Ukraine crisis, it only further exposed its viperous intention of bringing the whole world into a snafu.

What’s happening in Ukraine right now is something China doesn’t want to see. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has made its judgment and expressed its assertions independently based on the merits of the matter itself and the spirit of impartiality and justice. The special historical complexities on the Ukraine issue require great calm, care and clarity of mind when being dealt with.

China believes that to resolve the current crisis, all parties must uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and respect and protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; must adhere to the principle of indivisible security and accommodate the legitimate security concerns of parties involved; must settle the disputes in peaceful ways through dialogue and negotiation; and must keep in mind the long-term peace and stability of the region and put in place a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture. China’s stance is just and righteous with positive and constructive assertions.

What’s most needed now is facilitating peace talks rather than pouring oil. China is on the side of peace, cooperation, fairness and justice. It endorses any efforts that ease the situation and facilitate a political settlement and objects to any action that escalates the situation and sabotages a diplomatic resolution.

China has been in close communication with all parties. It has tried to facilitate a peace talk and stands ready to continue to play a constructive role in that direction and mediate, along with the international community, when necessary. This is the kind of behavior that is expected of a responsible major country, posing a sharp contrast to some certain country’s attempt to create and shift the crisis and fish in the troubled water of its own making, which indeed does no good to any party, including itself.

China does not approve of sanctioning the Ukraine crisis out, let alone unilateral sanctions not supported by international law. Sanction is never an effective solution – it only inflicts economic and livelihood hardships on relevant countries and further aggravates division and confrontation, not only causing economic losses to all parties but obstructing the process of a political resolution.

According to data from the US Department of the Treasury, the number of sanctions imposed by the US in the past 20 years has grown 10 times, including 3,800 sanction items during the previous administration, averaging three times per day. America’s unilateral sanctions have made much trouble for the world for their sustained, systematic harm to human rights. It should stop the abuse of sanctions and give up the illusion that it could force other countries to do things they are objected to.

The American politicians and media’s fabrication and spreading of disinformation about the Ukraine issue ring a bell of America’s shitty record of waging wars based on lies and rumors. During its short history of fewer than 250 years, there are less than 20 years when the US didn’t start a military operation on foreign land, while sometimes all it took to impose military intervention was a piece of fake news.

Former American ambassador to Soviet Union George Frost Kennan gave a piece of advice to the US government back in the 1990s. He said NATO’s continuous expansion against Russia would be the most lethal mistake in American policies. As the culprit, Washington should seriously reflect on its role in the Ukraine crisis, and stop lying, cheating and misleading. What it should do now is live up to its due responsibilities, take concrete actions to mitigate the tension and solve the problem, and make some contribution to rebuilding peace.

Editor's note: This article is originally published on the People's Daily, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.