January 22, 2024
Ambassador Zhang Jun said that, given increasing global instability, ending the Ukraine crisis and restoring peace is needed “more urgently than ever”.
Noting that all parties should work harder towards this end, he stressed that States’ sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected and that “no country may attempt to secure itself at the expense of another country’s security”.
Moreover, regional security cannot be guaranteed by “muscling-up or even expanding a military bloc”, he emphasized, highlighting the consequences of expansion by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“NATO shall learn its lessons,” he asserted, underlining the need to take the security concerns of the Russian Federation and Ukraine seriously. However, he stressed that “peace cannot be achieved by feeding weapons into the battlefield”, calling for the protection of civilian populations and infrastructure.
“The world cannot afford to see further spreading of geopolitical clashes,” he added.