Chinese President Xi Jinping will send a delegation to Ukraine for talks with all parties on resolving the conflict there, after his first phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, since invading Russia in February 2022.
According to Chinese state media, Xi made the offer during a phone call on Wednesday with Zelensky and offered to help facilitate peace talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire as soon as possible.
Xi also apparently vowed that China would remain neutral in the conflict, saying that Beijing “will not watch the fire from the other side, nor will it add fuel to the fire, let alone take advantage of the crisis to make a profit,” according to CCTV.
Zelensky described the phone call, which aides said was “long and meaningful,” and said the two discussed “the possibility of cooperation to reach a just and sustainable peace.”
But he insisted that Ukraine would not give up lost territories: “There can be no peace at the expense of territorial concessions. Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be restored within the 1991 borders,” he said in a readout of the call on Telegram.
China remains Russia’s number one strategic ally in the midst of the conflict, but despite this and Ukraine’s skepticism over Chinese peace proposals, Kiev has been keen to keep communications open with Beijing – not least after Xi’s recent high-level summit in Moscow where Russia and China are in talks. Pledge of “undying friendship”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying confirmed the call on her Twitter page. “What China did to help solve the Ukraine crisis was above all,” added Yu Jun, deputy head of the Eurasia Department of the Foreign Ministry.
Giving more details of the call, a report broadcast by Chinese state television said Xi told the Ukrainian leader: “Negotiation is the only viable way,” adding: “There is no winner in a nuclear war.”
“When dealing with the nuclear issue, all parties concerned should remain calm and restrained, truly focus on the future and fate of themselves and all mankind, and jointly manage and control the crisis,” Xi added.
Other than referring to averting nuclear war, Xi refrained from using the term “war” to describe the conflict, referring instead to the “Ukrainian crisis,” according to an official readout of the invitation.
Some analysts pointed out that the call came shortly after Lu Shai, China’s ambassador to France, made comments questioning the sovereignty of the countries of the former Soviet Union, which caused an uproar in Europe. China’s Foreign Ministry disavowed the remarks as “personal comments”, in an unusual rebuke of its official.
Beijing is trying to maintain its relationship with the European Union, presenting Xi as a peacemaker in the conflict in Ukraine to help achieve that goal.
There have been indications that China is unhappy with how the Russian invasion unfolded, with Vladimir Putin himself saying last September that Xi had “questions and concerns” about the war.
But China is under increasing pressure from Western governments, who have called it a “systemic adversary”. And no other allies possess Russia’s geopolitical and military clout, so far diminished by military failures in Ukraine and the financial sanctions imposed by the invasion.
Just before Putin was ordered to cross the border, China described their partnership as a “borderless” alliance. Frequent meetings between Xi and Putin since then, including Xi’s state visit to Moscow, have left no doubt about where Beijing believes its main interests lie.
According to a Chinese official, Beijing plans to send a delegation to Ukraine and other countries with the aim of starting peace negotiations.
The phone call followed the release of a Chinese-proposed 12-point peace plan, which was published without arranging a conversation between the two leaders — despite repeated requests from Zelensky to meet with Xi before and after visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in the past. Month.
The peace plan document portrayed China as a neutral party and urged Russia and Ukraine to enter into peace negotiations. The first point was that “the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries should be effectively maintained” but China has consistently refused to expand on how this relates to the characteristics of the Ukraine War, which erupted when Russian forces invaded its neighbor.
Russia and Ukraine called for the resumption of peace talks, noting that “dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution.”
The document was met with skepticism from Ukraine’s allies. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Beijing: “They don’t have a lot of credibility because they couldn’t condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Many at the time pointed to the fact that Xi had met with Putin but not even called Zelensky as evidence that China was not the neutral observer it had claimed.
Zelensky has repeatedly requested a call with Xi, and the discussion has been delayed for some time, said Andrew Small, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at the German Marshall Fund, a US think tank.
“It has always been a card that China can play the moment it seems politically advantageous,” he said. “Without Xi speaking to Zelensky, it would have been virtually impossible for Beijing to pretend to be engaged in a peace initiative on Ukraine, let alone pretend to be neutral.”
“I don’t think there will be a sense that this presages some significant initiatives in the near term. The conflict is not China’s war,” Small said, with Xi keen to get the message across.
“But of course, this gives exactly the cover needed to continue deepening relations with Russia, as the follow-up meeting of the Chinese defense minister in Moscow after Xi’s trip clearly indicates that they will continue to do so.”
Commenting on the call, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday: “We note the willingness of the Chinese side to make efforts to establish a negotiation process.”
“Subtly charming student. Pop culture junkie. Creator. Amateur music specialist. Beer fanatic.”