One month after speaking in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a lengthy telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Zelensky on Wednesday, the first since the invasion of Ukraine.
“I had a long and significant call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of the Ukrainian ambassador to China, will give a strong impetus to the development of our bilateral relations, ”Zelensky wrote on his Twitter account.
According to CNN, during that conversation the Chinese head of state called for peace negotiations, assuring that he will place a special envoy in Ukraine, who will also go to other countries, to help develop “deep communication” between all parties with the objective of reaching a political solution to the conflict.
At the same time, Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign minister, revealed at a press conference that the special envoy has already been appointed. This is Li Hui, who between 2009 and 2019 was China’s ambassador to Moscow. However, it has not yet been revealed when he will travel to kyiv, nor what other countries he will visit.
Xi also assured that China will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
“China will not watch the fire, nor will it add fuel to the fire, much less will it take advantage of the opportunity to profit,” Xi guaranteed, admitting that the crisis had a “great impact” internationally and that “the only viable way is through dialogue and communication”.
Shortly after the phone conversation, Hua Chunying, the vice spokeswoman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, wrote on Twitter: “Regarding the crisis in Ukraine, China always stands on the side of peace. Its main position is to facilitate peace. Negotiations are key.”
This first conversation between Xi and Zelensky is of great importance considering that, until now, the Chinese leader has always been closest to the Russian president, with whom he has spoken five times since the invasion of Russia. The last was when the Chinese leader visited Moscow in March.
speak moscow
On the other hand, Russia has already gone ahead to accuse Ukraine of “boycotting peace initiatives” after the first telephone conversation between the two leaders.
“The Ukrainian authorities and their Western allies have already demonstrated the ability to boycott peace initiatives,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Moscow also said it had signaled China’s willingness to “make efforts to establish a negotiation process” between Russia and Ukraine, but criticized Kiev for “rejecting any sensible initiative aimed at a political and diplomatic solution to the crisis.”
Russian diplomacy alleges that Ukraine issued “ultimatums with unrealistic demands” and “suddenly rejected” an early version of a peace deal, in 2022, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion.
Zelensky has repeatedly accused Russia of issuing ultimatums and has assured that he will not negotiate directly with Putin until Moscow withdraws its troops from Ukraine, insisting on the return of all territories occupied by the Russian army, including Crimea, annexed in 2014.
“Any call for peace can hardly be correctly perceived by the puppets controlled by Washington,” accused Russian diplomacy in the issued statement.
