At a news briefing in Beijing on Jan 17, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman stated "there is no ceiling for China-Russia relations, there is no restricted zone in China-Russia strategic cooperation".

The most telling proof of that is certainly the intimacy Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin showcased in Beijing. The Russian guest's personal presence at the opening of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics itself illustrates the "increasingly thicker, increasingly deeper personal friendship between the two heads of state", according to Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng. Following their meeting on Friday before their attendance at the opening ceremony for the Games, the Chinese and Russian leaders issued a joint statement on international relations entering a new era and global sustainable development, expounding the two governments' common positions on democracy, development, security and order.

Citing the nearly 20 documents signed on bilateral cooperation that day, which range from economy and trade to investment in energy and sports, Le said "the express train of China-Russia relations is always on its way, where there is no terminal, but only filling stations". Such closeness between the two countries is certainly upsetting to some wary third parties. But it is no excuse for incriminating China amid the present scare-mongering hype about an imminent "Russian invasion" of Ukraine.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned on Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press that China would "end up owning some of the costs" of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. But he may want to take a closer look at the joint statement the Chinese and Russian leaders issued before repeating Washington's threat of "the mother of all sanctions". For all the military deployment it has made, as it has repeatedly asserted, Russia is not planning an invasion — that is just something that Washington is trying to push as part of its geopolitical calculations, for whatever endgame it imagines.

And China would be the last country wanting to see tensions between the two neighbors escalate into armed conflict. Not only because of its longstanding commitment to international peace, but also because it has friendly ties with both parties.

Such groundless verbal threats further poison the atmosphere of the already toxic China-US relations, being another provocative step that Washington has taken consolidating the belief that it is set on a confrontation course with what it views as a rival power. Something reinforced by the US State Department's approval of the sale of equipment and services to Taiwan for its Patriot missiles program. The $100 million deal, the second under the Joe Biden administration, shows continuous disregard of the one-China principle that is the foundation for sound bilateral ties.

The reckless war-mongering posturing of Washington aimed at provoking Russia and China only serves to expose its hegemonic and bullying practices, which stem from its deeply ingrained Cold War mentality and zero-sum view of international relations. Washington should stop living in the past. The Joe Biden administration should not let its foreign policies be dictated by the intimate defense-industry connections. As the country's recent military adventurism in Iraq and Afghanistan show, the US too will bear a heavy cost for that.