Qin Gang, in a call with his colleague Dmytro Kuleba, expresses his concern that a war with Russia could get out of hand.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has told his Ukrainian counterpart that Beijing is worried about the war against Russia getting out of hand and urged to negotiate a political solution with Moscow.
Qin told Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that China wanted peace talks to move forward in a rare phone conversation on Thursday, Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
China “always advocated an objective and fair stance on the Ukraine issue,” Qin told Kuleba, according to the statement.
The minister also said China “is committed to promoting peace and promoting negotiations, and urges the international community to create conditions for peace negotiations,” according to the statement.
Kuleba later tweeted that he and Qin “discussed the importance of the principle of territorial integrity” and that he had “highlighted” to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the importance of the “peace formula” in ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Speaking with China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang today, we discussed the importance of the principle of territorial integrity. I emphasized its importance @ZelenskyyUa‘s Peace Formula to end aggression and restore a just peace to Ukraine.
– Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 16, 2023
Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace formula includes, among other things, the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, which will not be “negotiated,” the withdrawal of all Russian forces, the end of all hostilities, and the creation of a special court to prosecute Russia. war crimes.
China’s rare involvement in the war in Ukraine on Thursday follows Beijing’s recently proposed 12-point roadmap for a “political solution to the crisis in Ukraine.”
China has reinforced its power as an independent mediator by hosting talks last week in which longtime adversaries Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore full diplomatic relations.
But Beijing’s renewed interest in ending the more than year-long war in Ukraine is linked to China’s 2022 declaration of “no-limits” friendship with Russia. China has also refused to condemn Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, while at the same time declaring that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected.
However, Beijing has condemned Western sanctions against Russia and accused NATO and the United States of provoking Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
At a March 7 news conference, Foreign Minister Qin suggested that the United States was undermining peace efforts in Ukraine to expand the conflict for its own benefit.
“There seems to be an invisible hand pushing the prolongation and escalation of the conflict and using the Ukraine crisis to serve a specific geopolitical agenda,” he said.
The State Department did not mention Qin repeating such remarks to Kuleba or raising China’s peace plan in Thursday’s telephone conversation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit Russia possibly as early as next week, although neither side has confirmed the date of the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.