China is already acting as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia, according to the Foreign Minister of the world’s second largest economy, Wang Yi, in the clearest statements by his government to date on the possibility of accepting an intermediary role in the conflict. . In his main press conference of the year, during the annual session of the National People’s Congress (PNA, equivalent to the Chinese Parliament), Wang also assured that the Chinese Red Cross will send humanitarian aid to Ukraine “as soon as possible”.
At the press conference, in which he responded through a large television screen from the Great Hall of the People to the questions put to him by journalists in a press center miles away, the minister assured that his country is “willing ” to take a role in the Ukrainian crisis and act as a mediator to end the war. In fact, he has already interceded and “provided some advice,” Wang went on to say, citing the conversation between Putin and Xi the day after the invasion began, in which “the Chinese president expressed his desire to see peace talks were held. Since then there have been two rounds, and we look forward to further progress in a third. The greater the divergences, the greater the need to negotiate”.
Wang’s statements on Monday are the clearest statements yet from Beijing about its willingness to mediate. China maintains excellent relations with Russia, but also with Ukraine, which supplies it with weapons and about 80% of Chinese corn imports. Last week, in a conversation between Wang and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba, the government representative in Kiev asked the Chinese minister for Beijing’s mediation, according to the version of the conversation distributed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. But until today, China had avoided responding clearly about its willingness to engage as a middleman.
Over the days, the possibility of mediation by Beijing has been echoed in other instances: the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, indicated in statements published by El Mundo that “diplomacy has a role to play here China”. “Because there is no alternative. We cannot be the mediators, it is obvious. No Normandy format possible. And it can’t be the US: who else? It must be China, I trust it,” he added.
Beijing has adopted what some experts have described as a “slanted neutrality” in the conflict. With this position, despite using cautious language, he leans towards Moscow, the strategic partner with which he has gradually strengthened relations in the last decade and especially since February 4, when Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi met. Jinping in the Chinese capital and signed a joint declaration in which they assure that bilateral cooperation “has no limits” or any vetoed area. The Chinese government has not condemned the Russian assault, which it avoids describing as an “invasion”, and has described as “illegal” the sanctions that the West has imposed against the Russian government.
The collaboration between the two countries is “solid as a rock” and “the prospects for future collaboration are immense,” said Wang, who assured that the outbreak of war in Ukraine after the invasion ordered by Putin on the 24th has not weakened that relationship. “No matter how sinister the international situation is, both China and Russia will uphold their strategic resolve and continue to advance their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era,” the minister said. Both are “the most important strategic partners for each other” and their association “contributes” to peace and stability in the world.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
subscribe
Follow all the international information in Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.
#China #assures #interceding #Russia #Ukraine