Zelensky wants Xi Jinping meeting following China’s peace plan

INTERNATIONAL DESK:Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he plans to meet China’s leader Xi Jinping to discuss Beijing’s proposals on ending the war in Ukraine.

Speaking on the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he said the proposal signalled that China was involved in the search for peace.

“I really want to believe that China will not supply weapons to Russia,” he said.

China’s plan calls for peace talks and respect for national sovereignty.

However, the 12-point document does not specifically say that Russia must withdraw its troops from Ukraine, and it also condemns the usage of “unilateral sanctions”, in what is seen as a veiled criticism of Ukraine’s allies in the West.

The Chinese authorities have so far not publicly responded to Mr Zelensky’s call for a summit with Mr Xi.

Meanwhile, Russia hailed the Chinese peace proposals. “We share Beijing’s views,” the foreign ministry in Moscow said in a statement.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Beijing was considering supplying weapons and ammunition to Russia – a claim strongly denied by Beijing. On Friday, American media again reported that the Chinese government was considering sending drones and artillery shells to Moscow.

Asked about the Chinese plan, US President Joe Biden told ABC News on Friday: “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s applauding it, so how could it be any good?

“I’ve seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia,” he added.

China appears to be siding with Russia, though it would like to find a way of rescuing President Putin by arranging some kind of face-saving peace deal, says the BBC’s World Affairs Editor John Simpson.

The Chinese proposals follow a visit by the country’s top diplomat Wang Yi to Moscow, where he met President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.

After the talks, Mr Wang was quoted by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency as saying that Beijing was willing to “deepen political trust” and “strengthen strategic coordination” with Moscow.

Western officials gave the latest proposals a lukewarm reception. Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said Beijing “doesn’t have much credibility” because it had “not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine”.

President Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and Russian troops made significant advances during the first few days in Ukraine’s north, east and south.

But the attack on the capital Kyiv was soon repulsed and the Ukrainian military was later able to retake large areas.

The conflict – the biggest in Europe since World War Two – has since become a grinding war of attrition.(BBC)