China presented an alternative to the policy of the West, which relied on a military solution to the conflict

Beijing again acted as a mediator in the conflict in Ukraine, this time establishing communication with Kiev. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in particular, will send his Special Representative for Eurasian Affairs, former Ambassador to Russia Li Hui to Ukraine and then to other countries to conduct an in-depth dialogue on political settlement issues. This became known following telephone conversations between Xi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which took place at the request of Kyiv and during which the Chinese leader said that dialogue is the only viable way out of the conflict.

Beijing again recalled its position on the Ukrainian crisis, which was published on February 24, 2023 and contains 12 points that the media call China’s peace plan. Its main theses are: respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries and the norms of international law; abandoning the “Cold War mentality”; ceasefire and hostilities; settlement of the humanitarian crisis; protection of civilians and prisoners of war; NPP safety support; reducing strategic risks and preventing the use of nuclear weapons, etc.

China is neither the creator of the Ukrainian crisis nor a party to it, Xi said during a telephone conversation with Zelensky. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible country, China is not going to “add fuel to the fire” and use the situation “for its own selfish purposes.” At the same time, Xi hopes that “all parties will think deeply about the Ukrainian crisis and work together to find a way to long-term peace and stability in Europe” through dialogue. China is going to insist on establishing peace and facilitating negotiations, and will make its own efforts to “cease fire and restore peace” as soon as possible.

Xi was in Moscow quite recently, on March 20–22. Following the official talks on March 21, Vladimir Putin said that China’s peace plan had been carefully studied and could be taken as a basis. The joint statement “On Deepening Partnership” adopted at the end of the negotiations on March 21 says that “the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be respected,” but there is no talk of territorial integrity (as in the “peace plan”) as a value. Instead, they talk about the need to take into account the security interests of all countries and that NATO should take into account the interests of all countries, and unilateral sanctions should be lifted.

Putin said during the talks with Xi that Russia does not see the West and the Kyiv side ready for a peaceful settlement. After the conversation between Xi and Zelensky, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted China’s readiness to make efforts to establish a negotiation process, but added that so far “the Kiev regime has shown rejection of any sensible initiatives aimed at a political and diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, and eventual consent to negotiations determines ultimatums with deliberately unrealistic demands.

China has made it very clear that negotiations are the only possible way out of the current situation, says Alexander Lomanov, chief researcher at IMEMO RAS. At the same time, the promise to send a government special envoy for Eurasian affairs to visit Ukraine and other countries can be seen as an attempt to step up mediation functions to build bridges between Kiev and other parties involved in the conflict.

According to Lomanov, China has presented a “direct alternative” to the policy of the West, which has relied on a military solution to the conflict with the alleged victory of Ukraine. China thus very intensively began to search for a solution to the Ukrainian crisis through negotiations. According to Xi, the relations between the two countries have reached the level of strategic partnership, which can justify the role of China as a long-standing and reliable partner of Ukraine, which has sufficient authority and influence to resolve the crisis, the expert concludes.

China is a country that is not involved in the conflict and has not helped either Ukraine or Russia with weapons, says Alexei Maslov, director of the ISAA Moscow State University. According to the PRC, this gives the right to negotiate. If they take place, it will be a colossal blow to American strategy, because the United States is not interested in stopping hostilities, the expert continues. If the conflict is resolved, China will win on the Taiwan front, because it will show that even the most difficult conflict can be resolved through negotiations, the expert is sure.

Maslov focuses on the fact that Xi did not go to Ukraine. The choice of the PRC envoy is not surprising, since Li Hui is really very familiar with both the Ukrainian and Russian situations, understands the psychology of the Slavic peoples and, moreover, he speaks Russian, Maslov summarizes.

Nurlan Gasimov participated in the preparation of the article