On the second day of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida responded with a surprise trip to Kiev – the first by a Japanese government leader to a country at war since World War II. As Beijing tightens relations with Russia and sees the Russian president accept the peace proposal “as the basis for an agreement”, Tokyo gave a major sign of commitment to Ukraine and invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to participate in the next summit of the G7, which will be held in Hiroshima in May.
The Japanese Prime Minister began the day with a tour of Bucha, where he expressed “strong indignation at the invaders’ brutal acts”, later paid tribute to fallen soldiers and finally met Zelensky, with whom he signed a joint statement on the joint venture .
Kishida’s trip to the Ukrainian capital, which Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova called “historic”, despite its geopolitical and symbolic impact, could frisson of the Russian leader’s statements in response to China’s plan to end what the Kremlin calls a “Special Military Operation.”
At the end of the bilateral summit, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were open to approving the 12-point plan – or part of it. “We believe that many of the provisions of the peace plan presented by China are in line with the Russian approach and can be used as a basis for a peace agreement when the West and Kiev are ready,” he said.
The plan contains some generic considerations, such as the provisional rejection of nuclear war – and both leaders in the Russian capital have issued a statement on this – but also points that will please Moscow, such as an immediate end to economic sanctions; a ceasefire and the beginning of peace talks; and the “end of the Cold War mentality”.
This last point, a veiled criticism of NATO defending “legitimate security interests and concerns” and that “the security of a region should not be achieved through the strengthening or expansion of military blocs”, was also reiterated at the Sino Summit – Russian: In another joint statement, the leaders accused the Atlantic Alliance of “undermining regional peace and stability” and were “deeply concerned about the increasing strength” of NATO’s association with the countries of the Indo-Pacific.
On the other hand, the Chinese proposal defends the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries, a head-on clash with the intended annexation of the four partially occupied Ukrainian regions, in addition to Crimea, annexed in 2014. So far, the Russian regime has said that future negotiations would be based on the “new territorial realities”. On the Ukrainian side, since the condition for the occupying forces to leave the territory is not part of the document, the plan was met with skepticism.
Before Xi and Putin praised the “strategic partnership”, Ukraine announced the destruction of Russian cruise missiles in Crimea using Chinese drones.
The Russian leader said he spent a lot of time discussing the proposal with his Chinese counterpart, while the latter, without straying an inch from Beijing’s official stance, said he supported talks to resolve what he called the “Ukrainian crisis,” and about which he said his country maintained an “objective and fair” perspective at all times. Xi Jinping is expected to speak with Zelensky soon.
The Ukrainian position was defended by the Secretary General of NATO. “China must begin to understand Ukraine’s perspective and contact President Zelensky directly if it is serious about making peace,” said Jens Stoltenberg. On the same occasion, he praised some points of the Chinese initiative, but in line with what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had warned the day before about the hypothesis that this initiative was just “a delaying maneuver”, the Norwegian said that a ceasefire disrespectful to Ukrainian sovereignty “will only be a way to freeze the war and allow Russia to collect itself, regroup and strike again”.
Before Xi and Putin announced 14 deals and praised the “strategic partnership” between the two countries, Ukraine sent a message to both. According to the Defense Ministry’s Information Department, several Russian Kalibr cruise missiles were destroyed two days after Putin visited the Crimea peninsula and on the first day of Xi’s visit to Russia.
“An explosion in the Dzhankoi locality in the north of temporarily occupied Crimea destroyed Russian Kalibr NK cruise missiles while being transported by rail,” it was announced. Alleged wreckage of Chinese-made Mugin-5 drones used in the operation had stickers featuring memes inspired by former Chinese basketball star Yao Ming. According to Moscow, no missiles were destroyed, only drones shot down by anti-aircraft fire.
Source: DN
