A Chinese government envoy will leave on a tour, which begins Tuesday and includes visits to Ukraine and Russia, as part of Beijing’s efforts to broker a political deal to end the 15-month war.
China has said it is neutral in the conflict and wants to play a mediating role, but it has an “unlimited” relationship with Russia and has refused to criticize the invasion of Ukraine.
Beijing unveiled a peace plan in February that was widely rejected by Ukraine’s allies, who insist that Russian forces must first withdraw from Ukrainian soil.
Li Hui, a former ambassador to Moscow, will also visit Poland, France and Germany, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, without elaborating on the schedule.
Political analysts see the chances of a peace deal as low, as neither Ukraine nor Russia are ready to stop fighting. Analysts say that by deploying an envoy, China is trying to assuage criticism over its proximity to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and alienate Washington’s European allies.
Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in late April, setting the stage for a diplomatic push.
The Beijing envoy’s tour “expresses China’s commitment to promoting peace and negotiations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. Wang said China wanted to avoid “an escalation of the situation.”
Several European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission leader Ursula von der Leyen and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, have visited Beijing in the past two months to encourage China to use its influence along with Moscow to put end to conflict.
Xi Jinping calls for a greater role for China in solving international problems, in line with the country’s economic and military rise. In particular, the Chinese leader proposed the Global Security Initiative, which aims to build a “balanced, effective and sustainable global and regional security architecture” by “abandoning Western geopolitical security theories.”
In a triumph for Xi, Iran and Saudi Arabia announced, last March, in Beijing, an agreement to restore diplomatic relations, broken by Riyadh in 2016.
China maintains good relations with Moscow and economic influence, being the largest customer of Russian oil and gas.
China sees partnership with Russia as essential to oppose the liberal democratic order, at a time when its relationship with the United States is also going through a period of great tension, marked by trade and technology disputes or disputes over human rights, the status of Hong Kong or Taiwan, and the sovereignty of the South and East China seas.
Beijing has used its position as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to block diplomatic strikes against Russia.
Source: TSF
