Chinese leader Xi Jinping has finally spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after more than six weeks of speculation. Now comes the difficult part of his quest to end the 14-month-old conflict. Right after these negotiations, now is the most difficult time for the leader of China to post the result. Western media write about it, especially Bloomberg and Reuters, analyzing not so much the outcome of the conversation as future actions.
Aside from the vague platitudes about peace that were widely laid out in Xi’s 12-point plan to end hostilities published in February, Chinese officials at the briefing evaded or ignored questions about when an envoy from the PRC would visit Ukraine, which countries could join the process, why Xi could not call Zelenskyy for so long and, above all, whether Beijing will support Russian efforts to maintain the status quo on earth.
At a regular briefing on Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not provide details. Everything will be revealed in “due time”, Mao Ning’s spokesman told reporters, Bloomberg writes.
But it is still possible to understand something about Beijing’s carefully concealed real strategy. One key to Xi’s plans could be appointing 70-year-old Li Hui to head the delegation to Ukraine. He spent 16 years of his career working in either the Soviet Union or Russia, and from 2009 to 2019 he served as Chinese Ambassador to Moscow.
According to Reuters, China’s escalation and appeal to Xi Zelenskyy was prompted by an unintentional mistake by China’s Ambassador to France Lou Shaye, who was embarrassed when discussing the sovereignty of post-Soviet republics . It may have been Beijing’s game, but it spun out of control and clouded early visions of Xi’s peace efforts.
The difficult moment for Beijing is that Xi is playing a double game, Western observers believe. On the one hand, under cover of a desire for peace in Ukraine, China is forging ties above all with Europe. To do this, it is necessary to eliminate the negative image of a friend of Russia for the EU. Now you have to risk relations with Moscow for unclear prospects in the West, say journalists.
Another significant risk factor for Xi is the reluctance of the parties to the Ukrainian conflict to compromise and make concessions, which will make it difficult to reach any agreement, let alone a lasting peace.
Photos used: kremlin.ru
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