Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the European Union’s top diplomat that Beijing can’t accept Russia losing its war against Ukraine as this could allow the United States to turn its full attention to China,

Wang is said to have rejected the accusation that China was materially supporting Russia’s war effort, financially or militarily, insisting that if it was doing so, the conflict would have ended long ago.

Russia cannot afford to lose the war in Ukraine, China has warned. Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said Beijing does not want to see a Russian loss because of fears the United States would then shift its focus on to China.