Acting U.S. Amb. to Ukraine on China Increasing Strategic Ties with Russia: Not ‘Very Wise’ for Them Not to ‘Join’ ‘Responsible Countries’

On MSNBC on Wednesday, acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Kristina Kvien commented on China vowing to increase its strategic ties with Russia by saying that China has a choice between joining “the league of responsible countries” or tying itself to Russia, which she “would not say would be a very wise thing to do.” And would be “tying themselves to a ship that’s going down quickly.”

Host Jose Diaz-Balart asked, “Ambassador, you mentioned recently that Putin is now a pariah. China says it’s going to continue to increase strategic ties with Russia. Much of the world is not on board on sanctions to Russia. How concerning is this?”

Kvien answered, “Well, China has two choices: It can join the league of responsible countries that are condemning what Russia is doing and what Putin is doing and which uphold the sanctions that the responsible world has put on Putin for his war of choice, or they can tie themselves to President Putin, which, frankly, I would not say would be a very wise thing to do. And if they tie themselves to President Putin, they’ll be tying themselves to a ship that’s going down quickly.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett