Strategic partnership with Ukraine to continue- China
February 25, 2014, 6:06 am

Ukrainian opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk, left, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton greet each other prior to their talks in Kiev,greet Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 24, 2014 [AP]

“China is very concerned over the current situation in Ukraine. We hope the two opposing sides in Ukraine will peacefully resolve the domestic crisis through political negotiations within the framework of the law,”  said Hua Chunying spokeswoman of Chinese Foreign Ministry.

More than 80 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured during anti-government protests, which began last November to back the country’s European integration and turned violent last Tuesday. New speaker, Oleksandr Turchynov will perform the duties of the President until elections are held in May.

‘It is known that China never interferes in other country’s internal affairs, so China will not interfere in Ukraine’s internal affairs. We respect the choices made by the people of Ukraine, according to their domestic situation. China is willing to continue the strategic partnership with Ukraine on the basis of equality and mutual benefit,” Hua added.

Kiev has been strategically important for China’s westward march.

Beijing bought a half-finished Soviet aircraft carrier, the Varyag, from Ukraine for $20 million in the 1990s, and refurbished it into China’s first carrier — the Liaoning.

Ukraine also built for China the Zubr-class amphibious hovercraft, the world’s largest.

In December last year deposed Ukrainian President Yanukovych secured a $8 billion in investment from China. China has already granted $10 billion in loans to Kiev.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s dire economic conditions continue as it has around $6.5 billion in foreign debt payments to make in 2014.

Apart from spiraling public debt, state-owned companies are also at high-risk of bankruptcy in Ukraine.

TBP and Agencies