China plays peacemaker as row over downed Russian fighter jet simmers

China called for calm on Friday as it stepped into the international row over the shooting down of a Russian fighter plane. It joined calls from other world leaders to avoid escalating the dispute with Turkey, instead urging the international community to coordinate in the fight against terror. "A Russian warplane has been shot down and a pilot killed - this is an unfortunate incident and we express sympathy,“ the foreign ministry said. Opposing terrorism was an urgent task for the international community to face together, it added. "The relevant parties should increase communication to avoid further escalating the situation.”

The international community should earnestly strengthen coordination and cooperation in the fight against terrorism to avoid this kind of incident from happening again.

Chinese foreign ministry

China joined the debate after Russia on Thursday pledged retaliatory measures against Turkey in revenge for the downing  the SU-24 at the Syrian border on Tuesday. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan angrily rebuffed his Russian counterpart’s demands for an apology and said Vladimir Putin had snubbed a phone call from him after the incident. In comments published in Britain on Friday, Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara “will work with Russia and our allies to calm tensions”. He stressed that fighting Islamic State was the main priority.

Faced with the same violation today, Turkey would give the same response. It’s the country that carried out the violation which should question itself and take measures to prevent it from happening again, not the country that was subjected to a violation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

World russia turkey