File photo: White House website

Although the Chinese Foreign Ministry has publicly denied, some in Europe are continuing to hype the information regarding so-called "China sending peacekeepers to Ukraine."

In a self-contradictory report, the Financial Times, continued to hype this idea. The Financial Times, citing four people briefed on the matter, claimed on Saturday that during a meeting at the White House last week with European leaders and Ukraine's president, Trump suggested deploying Chinese troops as peacekeepers in postwar Ukraine. However, the Financial Times report also claimed that White House denied it.

Trump proposed inviting China to supply peacekeepers to monitor a neutral zone along Ukraine's 1,300km front line as part of a peace settlement with Russia, Financial Times report claimed.

However, the White House denied it. "This is false," a senior Trump administration official said, adding there had been "no discussion of Chinese peacekeepers," according to FT report.

When asked to comment on the report by Germany-based Die Welt that diplomatic representatives from EU countries claiming that China expressed its willingness to participate in a potential international peacekeeping force in Ukraine, Guo Jiakun, spokesperson from China's foreign ministry said on August 25 that the report is not true. 

China's position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear, said Guo.

Some in Europe and the US have been frequently hyping information regarding so-called "China sending peacekeepers to Ukraine," which is an attempt to pressure Beijing to take sides [of Europe and Ukraine] in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Saturday. He noted that this is undoubtedly a "trap."

Europe is trying to fan the flames and make a third party bear the cost of the crisis, while also attempting to shift responsibility for the intractability of the Russia-Ukraine conflict onto China.

For the US, which is eager to extricate itself from the crisis, hyping the idea of "China sending peacekeepers to Ukraine" serves its attempt to highlight Beijing's role and shift blame onto China for the difficulty in resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Li told the Global Times.

Li noted that some people in Europe and the US are scheming behind the scenes to set traps for China by hyping this news to prolong the conflict for their own interests, despite Chinese foreign ministry's denial.

China has repeatedly outlined its position on the Ukraine crisis, emphasizing that it has always held an objective and just position and has always been fair and square on the issue, "which is for all to see," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press conference on August 22.

The remarks were made in response to media inquiries about Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov's comments stating that Russia supports providing a strong security guarantee for Ukraine and agrees not to exclude UN Security Council members, including Western countries and China, from providing the so-called guarantee.

Mao added that it is essential to pursue common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security and promote the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. China stands ready to play a constructive role to that end.