Respect for territorial integrity at base of Ukraine-China relations - MFA spox

For years, Ukraine has adhered to the position of “one China”, having retained it during the recent talks held by the two top diplomats, Dmytro Kuleba and Wang Yi, in Guangzhou.

That’s according to Heorhii Tykhyi, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who spoke at a briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"At the negotiations in China, Minister Kuleba reaffirmed the position that Ukraine has been following for many, many years, namely the one China policy. No more and no less. All the rest are interpretations that do not correspond to what the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced at the negotiations," he said.

Tykhyi said Ukraine’s stance underwent no changes during a visit to Guangzhou, noting that mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is the foundation of Ukrainian-Chinese bilateral relations.

"Ukraine adheres to the one China policy consistently and unwaveringly and, moreover, the entire world adheres to that policy, including our key allies – the United States, European Union, and others," said the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The diplomat explained that the Chinese side had invited the Ukrainian delegation to the Guangdong province precisely because China hosts high-ranking guests in several cities, not only in the capital, and because Guangzhou is a showcase of progress and a source of change in China.

The one China policy is about the official recognition of a single state of China, despite the existence of two countries that have referred to themselves as China. The one China policy is different from the "one China principle", which is that both Taiwan and mainland China are inseparable parts of a single China.

As reported, last week Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba paid a three-day working visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese side to discuss bilateral relations, as well as international efforts to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Kuleba said his Chinese counterpart had clearly agreed that what is needed is a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, not the illusion of it.