Beijing wants to be a key player in the settlement of the war in Ukraine while preserving its Russian ally. China therefore presented Wednesday in Moscow its vision for the “political settlement” of the conflict in Ukraine, at a time when the UN Secretary General denounced the “affront to our collective conscience” caused a year ago by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the opening of the General Assembly.
In Moscow, the head of Chinese diplomacy Wang Yi was received at the Kremlin, after having met with the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov. This after the United States and NATO expressed concern that the Chinese were preparing, which they denied, to supply Russia with weapons to continue its military operations in Ukraine.
The Chinese proposal soon public
“The Chinese partners shared with us their thoughts on the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis, as well as their approaches to its political settlement,” commented the Russian Foreign Ministry after the talks. “There was no question of a separate (peace) ‘plan’,” he noted, however. Beijing has also promised to make its proposal to end the conflict public this week. And Wang Yi expressed Beijing’s desire to “strengthen the strategic partnership (…) and all-out cooperation” with Russia.
“China did not consult us”, reacted on the other hand a senior Ukrainian official who requested anonymity. He further warned that no peace plan should cross “red lines” set by Kiev, which in particular refuses to make any territorial concessions to Russia, which occupies areas in the east and south of the country. Ukraine, like the Crimean peninsula.