China's total trade with Ukraine climbed to 29.6 billion yuan in the first quarter, customs spokesman Li Kuiwen said at a press conference, up 10.6 percent.

China's trade with both Russia and Ukraine has maintained an uptrend, Li said, adding that China's economic and trade cooperation with other countries including Russia and Ukraine will remain normal.

China's overall trade with Russia reached 190.12 billion yuan in January-March 2021, while its trade with Ukraine stood at 26.77 billion yuan, according to previous customs data.

In early April, a senior Chinese diplomat said China is not deliberately circumventing sanctions on Russia, one day after the European Union warned Beijing against allowing Moscow to work around measures imposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Wang Lutong, director-general of European affairs at China's foreign ministry, told reporters that China is contributing to the global economy by conducting normal trade with Russia.

"China is not a related party on the crisis of Ukraine. We don't think our normal trade with any other country should be affected," he said.

Wang's comments come a day after an EU-China virtual summit that included the EU's comments on sanctions and China offering assurances that it would seek peace for Ukraine but "in its own way."

Beijing, which has forged closer ties with Moscow, has refused to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine or call it an invasion and has repeatedly criticised what it calls illegal and unilateral Western sanctions.

"We oppose sanctions, and the effects of these sanctions also risk spilling to the rest of the world, leading to wars of the currency, wars of trade and finance and also risk jeopardising the supply chain and industrial chain and globalisatiom and even the economic order," Wang said.