CHINA’S TOP DIPLOMAT spoke with his US counterpart on Thursday, warning Washington to “stop interfering” in the Winter Olympics and stressing that Russia’s security concerns in Europe should be “taken seriously”.

Beijing hopes to turn next week’s Games into a soft power triumph.

But the lead-up has been clouded by a US-led diplomatic boycott over China’s human rights record, particularly towards its Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region.

“The most urgent priority right now is that the US should stop interfering in the Beijing Winter Olympics,” foreign minister Wang Yi said during a call with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to a foreign ministry statement.

He added that Washington must also “stop playing with fire” on the Taiwan issue.

Both officials also discussed the growing tensions in Europe over Ukraine, with Wang telling Blinken that Russia’s security concerns “should be taken seriously”.

“All parties should completely abandon the Cold War mentality and form a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism through negotiation,” Wang said.

“Russia’s reasonable security concerns should be taken seriously and resolved.”

In a nod to Moscow’s concerns about the expansion of the NATO alliance in Europe Wang added that “regional security cannot be guaranteed by strengthening or even expanding military blocs”.

The State Department’s readout of the call made no mention of the Olympics and instead focused on Ukraine.

“Secretary Blinken underscored the global security and economic risks posed by further Russian aggression against Ukraine and conveyed that de-escalation and diplomacy are the responsible way forward,” the statement read.

Global concerns are growing over a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, as tens of thousands of Russian troops have been stationed at the border in recent weeks.

In response, the US and other NATO member states have been conducting intense diplomacy with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days, as well as providing military reinforcement to Ukraine.

The US and its NATO allies have said they are ready for any eventuality.

Russia, which has a troubled historical relationship with Ukraine, has fueled an insurgency in the former Soviet republic’s east that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014.

Russia that year also seized Crimea after the overthrow of a government in Kyiv that had resisted efforts to move closer to Europe.

Moscow has denied planning to invade Ukraine but has also said it wants guarantees that the country will not join NATO.

China often opposes “external interference” in how other countries are run.

But it has been especially reluctant to speak out against its close strategic ally Russia, which is a fellow permanent member of the UN Security Council and often finds itself at loggerheads with the same western powers as China.

Peng Shuai (file pic). PA PA

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee [IOC] said on Thursday that it has spoken with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai again and plans to meet her in Beijing during next month’s Winter Games.

Peng, a former world number one in doubles, has been the subject of worldwide concern since alleging in November that she had been “forced” into sex by former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli during an on-off relationship.

Beijing’s censors swiftly scrubbed the allegation from China’s tightly controlled Internet and the 36-year-old was not seen in public for nearly three weeks.

Zhang has not commented on the allegations while Peng has since made brief appearances that have been widely pushed by Chinese state media reporters as proof of her freedom and well-being.

In one brief video conversation with a Singaporean newspaper she said she had never claimed anyone sexually assaulted her.

An IOC spokesperson said in a statement to AFP that the Olympic body had “kept in touch with (Peng) and had a number of conversations with her” since an initial call in November, with the most recent communication coming “just the past week”.

Peng told the IOC she was “looking forward to the upcoming Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and intends to follow the competitions and her fellow Chinese Olympians closely”, according to the statement.

She reiterated that she was “looking forward” to meeting IOC president Thomas Bach and chair of the IOC athletes’ commission Emma Terho during the Games, the statement said.

Bach spoke with Peng by video call last November with the IOC releasing a statement saying the tennis star was “safe and well”.

That led to accusations that Bach was acting to protect the Olympic hosts.

Bach is currently in Beijing and met President Xi Jinping earlier in the week.

International fears that Peng may not be free have persisted despite her public reappearances, with some fans at the Australian Open recently donning T-shirts bearing the slogan “Where is Peng Shuai?”

The tournament sparked a backlash last weekend when video emerged of security staff ordering spectators to remove the shirts and a banner in support of Peng — prompting tennis legend Martina Navratilova to brand the move “pathetic”.

On Tuesday, tournament chief Craig Tiley said fans could wear the T-shirts as long as they did so peacefully.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) suspended its tournaments in China in the wake of Peng’s allegations saying they were not yet convinced that she was free to speak freely.

China has not commented directly on Peng’s initial social media post, but has said it opposes the “politicisation of sports”.

Beijing will host the Olympics from 4-20 February.

– © AFP 2022