Top Chinese diplomat to visit Russia after meeting with Blinken

China’s foreign minister was expected to travel to Moscow this week after Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Beijing against providing military assistance to Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Leading up to Wang Yi’s visit and possible meeting with President Vladimir Putin, China’s foreign ministry told the US to butt out of its relationship with the Kremlin. 

“The United States is in no position to make demands of China,” ministry spokes​man Wang Wenbin ​told reporters in Beijing. 

“China’s comprehensive collaborative partnership with Russia is based on non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties, and is a matter within the sovereignty of two independent countries,” ​he added.​

Wang Wenbin went on to blame the US for ​”fanning flames and stoking confrontations” by supplying Ukraine with weapons.

“Who is calling for dialogue and peace and who is handing out knives and encouraging confrontation?” he said.​

Wang Yi’s visit to Russia comes as President Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and pledged another $500 million in military aid. ​

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t say when Wang Yi will arrive but wouldn’t “rule out” a meeting with Putin.

“Russian-Chinese relations are very multidimensional, allied in nature. … The agenda is clear and very extensive, so there is a lot to talk about,” Peskov said, according to the TASS news agency.

Blinken, who met with Wang Yi Saturday at the annual Munich Security Conference, said he informed his Chinese counterpart that China would suffer “severe consequences” if it provided lethal aid to Russia for its war on Ukraine.

“What we’ve seen over the past years is, of course, some political and rhetorical support, even some nonlethal support. But we are very concerned that China is considering providing lethal support to Russia in its aggression against Ukraine,” Blinken told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

“And I made clear that that would have serious consequences in our relationship as well, something that President Biden has shared directly with President Xi on several occasions,” he said.​

China has ​refused to describe Russia’s attack on Ukraine — launched last Feb. 24 — as an invasion, and has taken the position that the Kremlin was provoked to take military action because of NATO’s expansion into eastern Europe. ​

President Xi Jinping has also committed to a “no limits” relationship with Putin and has provided political and economic cover for Russia. ​

Blinken accused Beijing Sunday of trying to “have it both ways.”

“Publicly, they present themselves as a country striving for peace in Ukraine. But privately, as I said, we’ve seen already over these past months the provision of nonlethal assistance that does go directly to aiding and abetting Russia’s war effort,” ​he said.​

Relations between Washington and Beijing have been strained for years but ​have turned even chillier since China flew a spy balloon over much of the United States earlier this month.​

Blinken and Wang’s meeting in Munich was the first face-to-face meeting since US fighter jets downed the balloon off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4. ​​

The secretary of state said Wang offered “no apology” for the spy balloon. ​​

Wang, before meeting with Blinken, ​called the US reaction to the balloon “hysterical” and said the shootdown violated international norms. ​

“There are so many balloons all over the world, so is the United States going to shoot all of them down?” Wan​g said.​​

With Post wires