Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Wang Wenbin has disclosed that in an effort to help reach a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, China is sending a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia starting next week.
The special envoy, named Li Hui, who is China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs and a former Ambassador to Moscow, will also visit Poland, France and Germany.
On Wednesday, April 26, 2023, Chinese leader Xi Jinping held talks with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy on phone, setting the stage for the diplomatic ambition.
“The visit of the Chinese representative to relevant countries expresses China’s commitment to promoting peace and negotiations,” Wang averred. He added that China wishes to prevent an “escalation of the situation.”
Li’s visits are to begin next week but his detailed schedule has not been released.
Previously, China avoided involvement in conflicts between other countries but seems to be making efforts to assert itself as a global diplomatic force after arranging talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March that led them to restore diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.
China has friendly relations with Moscow as well as economic leverage as the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas after the United States and its allies cut off most purchases.
Beijing, which sees Moscow as a diplomatic partner in opposing U.S. domination of global affairs, has refused to condemn the invasion and used its status as one of five permanent U.N. Security Council members to jeopardize diplomatic attacks on Russia.
China claims that it remains neutral over Russia’s war in Ukraine but has stated that it has a “no limits” relationship with Moscow and blames the U.S. and NATO for provoking the conflict.
Beijing has established a peace plan for Ukraine that has been largely dismissed by the war ravaged country’s supporters, who demand that a resolution can only come when Russia ceases its attacks and withdraws its troops from Ukrainian territory.
Wang Confirms Meetings Between Sullivan And Chinese Diplomat
Additionally, Wang Wenbin confirmed that the ruling Communist Party’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, and U.S. National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan had discussions on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, and Thursday, May 11, 2023, in Vienna, Austria.
Wang divulged that the two sides had “candid, in-depth, substantive, and constructive discussions” on stabilizing and improving bilateral relations.
China-U.S. relations are at a historical low and further plummeted in February after a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had flown across Canada and the United States was shot down by U.S. The incident occasioned the postponement of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken to Beijing which is yet to be rescheduled.
Chinese state-run news agency disclosed that Wang “comprehensively expounded upon China’s solemn position” on Taiwan. The two diplomats “agreed to continue to make good use of this strategic channel for communication,” the news media added.
According to a U.S official, Sullivan repeated White House concerns about a lack of “constructive engagement” from Beijing to use its influence to press Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine and called on China to do more to stop the movement of illegal drugs. The US in particular has been urging China to limit on the production of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl.
On Taiwan, the official revealed that the US stressed that the two sides had managed the issue “for over 40 years without conflict” and that Washington did not want to see any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the situation.
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