Former Chinese Senior Military Colonel Zhou Bo told DW's Richard Walker at this year's MSC that although the war in Ukraine was "not in China's interest," it also was not an issue Beijing could solve. "War in the heart of Europe has nothing to do with China," he said. "This war is not in China's interest. If it would stop immediately, we would be very happy." Zhou added that it was wrong for Western politicians to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine, saying that Russia "took this action because of NATO expansion and Russian leaders have been talking about this since the Soviet time." He also said that since China and Russia share a long border, it was in both countries' interests to ensure they had a "good and stable" relationship.
