Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba during an interview in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP File
New Delhi: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday that China’s top diplomat Wang Yi has presented some of the key parts of its peace plan for Russia and Ukraine to Kiev.
“He (Wang Yi) shared the key elements of the Chinese peace plan with me,” Kuleba said at a joint press conference with NATO and EU officials in Brussels, adding that he was looking forward to getting the whole text.
“It is necessary to study the details,” Kuleba added.
He, however, did not reveal the details of the plan shared by the Chinese diplomat.
The Ukrainian minister maintained that Kiev was giving priority to a “formula” devised by President Vladimir Zelenskyy.
Zelensky is actively advancing his ten-point “peace plan,” which includes, among other things, the withdrawal of Russian soldiers to Ukrainian-claimed borders, the payment of reparations, and the submission to war-crime tribunals.
These requests, however, have been deemed “unacceptable” by Moscow.
Chinese peace plan
According to Bloomberg, the Chinese plan includes a call for territorial integrity to be respected, as well as a proposal on the security of nuclear facilities, and a ban on the use of biological and chemical weapons.
The proposals also included calls for a ceasefire and a halt to arms deliveries to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing unnamed European officials.
Skepticism over Chinese plan
The EU has already expressed skepticism about the Chinese initiative. European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans maintained that peace can only be reached if Russia withdraws to Ukraine’s borders of 1991.
“If we step away from the premise that borders are to be respected then hell will break loose all over the world,” he stressed. Timmermans added, however, that it is still unclear what exactly the Chinese initiative might look like.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a Russian troop withdrawal of Ukraine must be a condition of any peace deal.
“A just peace cannot mean that the aggressor gets rewarded,” she said.
Plan could resonate in Global South
Although China’s plan appears to have little chance of succeeding, US allies are concerned the proposal could resonate with countries in the Global South and potentially attract votes at the UN.
Many countries outside the US and Europe have declined to join the sanctions against Russia and called for talks and a possible cease-fire. At the same time, past efforts to mediate have foundered.
According to the Bloomberg report, for China, the peace proposal helps paint Xi as a global statesman while also shaping the outcome toward one that helps Beijing. Some Chinese participants at the Munich conference were surprised at how the US and its allies were lumping China and Russia together, and they underscored the need to counter that narrative.
While China has provided diplomatic support to Putin ever since the invasion, recently Chinese diplomats have sought to create some distance with Moscow. In a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in early January, new Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said ties were based on “Three Nos”: no alliance, no confrontation and no targeting of any third party.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that it was ready for peace talks with Kiev.
Earlier in February, a Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergey Vershinin, said that the talks between the two sides that took place last spring had been halted by Ukraine.
He also maintained that such decisions are not made in Kiev and that it is Washington and Brussels who Moscow must talk to.
With inputs from agencies
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