Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has said that the US is trying to avoid its own responsibility in the matter by accusing China of inaction over the Ukraine crisis.
"This way of abdicating responsibility and spreading slander is very hypocritical and vile", Wang told reporters on Friday.
The remarks come a day after a high-ranking US defence official argued that China "continues to send mixed messages out here about their concerns over what's going on in Ukraine".
"What we have not seen them do is being willing to sanction Russia like so much of the rest of the international community, to condemn what the Russians are doing inside Ukraine, and for all their bluster about wanting to see a peaceful outcome here, they've done nothing to propose or suggest or show an interest in becoming involved in any kind of diplomatic solution here", the official stated.
Last week, Russia launched a special operation in Ukraine in response to calls from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics to defend themselves against intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops.
President Vladimir Putin said that the goal is to demilitarise and "de-Nazify" Ukraine, while the Russian Defence Ministry stressed that the operation is only targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and the civilian population is not in danger.
In response, the US and its allies imposed comprehensive sanctions on Moscow, including restrictions on the Russian central bank, export control measures, removal from SWIFT for select banks, and the closure of airspace to all Russian flights.
In a tit-for-tat move, Russia closed its airspace to airlines from 36 countries, including France, Germany, and Spain, as President Putin signed a decree called "On the application of special economic measures" against the US and its allies.