Fed up with the U.S., Ukraine cuts deals with China

WASHINGTON — Frustrated with the U.S., Ukraine is cutting deals with a rival superpower, inviting China to build infrastructure while holding back criticism of Beijing's human rights record.

Ukraine last month touted agreements with China to build airports, roads and railways in the Eastern European country and expressed gratitude for deliveries of Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccines.


Just days before the cooperation deals were clinched, Kyiv chose to stay silent about China's alleged human rights abuses.

At the U.N. Human Rights Council, Ukraine withdrew its signature from a joint statement calling on China to allow independent observers into the country's Xinjiang region to investigate reports of persecution of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

The foreign ministry has yet to offer a rationale for the move, and it did not respond to a request for comment.

Andriy Sharaskin, a member of the Ukrainian parliament's foreign policy committee, said China demanded that Ukraine take its signature off the joint statement and made it clear that promised deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines would be scrapped.


"When Ukraine signed the declaration, China started asking [Ukraine] to withdraw it. And at the same time, they blocked the shipment of the vaccines we already paid for," Sharaskin told NBC News, saying foreign ministry officials briefed him at the time.


Ukraine has struggled to secure a sufficient supply of vaccines and to get shots into arms, with its vaccination rate lagging behind those of most countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Associated Press, citing anonymous sources, first reported that China threatened to cancel vaccine shipments if Ukraine did not withdraw its support for the joint letter led by Canada.

China's embassy in Ukraine has publicly denied having exerted any pressure on Ukraine over the joint statement. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.


In the Ukrainian parliament this month, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba faced questions about whether the government had taken a U-turn away from the West. He said Ukraine remained committed to "Euro-Atlantic integration" and opposed violations of human rights. He did not say why Kyiv held its fire over China and the Uyghurs.

"As for your question, I can say that we are currently in the process of consultations with our Western partners and China on that issue. As soon as the process ends, we will explain our position," he said.

But Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to the Ukrainian president's office, later delivered a blunt warning to the U.S. and its allies.

"My main message would be: If the West keeps surrendering Ukraine's interests for a friendship with Russia, Ukraine may turn to the East," Arestovych said July 18.


Ukraine has been in conflict with Russia, its much more powerful neighbor, since 2014, when Moscow invaded and annexed the country's Crimea region. Pro-Russian separatists also control parts of eastern Ukraine, with sporadic clashes continuing along the front line.


Despite Russian opposition, Ukraine's government has vowed to align the country with the European Union and NATO, not Moscow. But Ukraine has grown impatient with its Western allies and believes it requires more support as it tries to counter Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made no secret of his bitter disappointment with the Biden administration over how it has handled Russia's planned gas pipeline to Europe, accusing the White House of failing to take decisive action to halt the project, which Kyiv says will give Moscow leverage over European governments.

Zelenskyy also had been asking for a face-to-face meeting with Biden for months, and it was not until last week that the White House announced that Biden would host him for a U.S. visit Aug. 30.


Amid friction with Washington, Ukraine announced infrastructure construction plans with China this month, and Zelenskyy spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time. They discussed "the full realization of the potential of bilateral cooperation, especially in the areas of trade and major infrastructure projects," according to a statement from the Ukrainian president's office.