Beijing
\nThe Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will send a delegation to Ukraine to hold talks with all parties on resolving the conflict there, after his first phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, since Russia invaded in February 2022.
\nAccording to Chinese state media, Xi made the offer during a telephone call on Wednesday with Zelenskiy and offered to help facilitate peace talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire as soon as possible.
\nXi also appeared to pledge China would remain neutral in the conflict, saying Beijing \u201cwill neither watch the fire from the other side, nor add fuel to the fire, let alone take advantage of the crisis to profit\u201d, according to CCTV.
\nHowever, China remains Russia\u2019s top strategic ally in the midst of the conflict. Despite scepticism in Ukraine about China\u2019s overtures for negotiations, Kyiv has been keen to keep communications open with Beijing, not least after Xi\u2019s recent high-profile summit in Moscow where Russia and China pledged \u201cundying friendship\u201d.
\nZelenskiy said: \u201cI had a long and meaningful phone call with President Xi Jinping.
\n\u201cI believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine\u2019s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations.\u201d
\nZelenskiy\u2019s spokesperson Serhiy Nykyforov said on Facebook that the two had \u201can almost one-hour-long conversation\u201d.
\nCommenting on the call, Russia\u2019s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that it noted China\u2019s willingness to engage in a peace process for Ukraine.
\n\u201cWe note the readiness of the Chinese side to make efforts to establish a negotiation process,\u201d the foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
\nOn the Chinese side the call was confirmed by Hua Chunying the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, on her Twitter page.
\n\u201cWhat China has done to help resolve the Ukraine crisis has been above board,\u201d added Yu Jun, the deputy head of the foreign ministry\u2019s Eurasian department.
\nProviding further details of the contacts, a report on Chinese state TV said Xi had told the Ukrainian leader: \u201cNegotiation is the only viable way out,\u201d adding: \u201cThere is no winner in a nuclear war.\u201d
\nXi added: \u201cWhen dealing with the nuclear issue, all parties concerned should remain calm and restrained, truly focus on the future and destiny of themselves and all mankind, and jointly manage and control the crisis.\u201d
\nThere have been signs that China is unhappy about how Russia\u2019s invasion has played out, with Vladimir Putin himself saying last September that Xi had \u201cquestions and concerns\u201d about the war.
\nBut China is under increasing pressure from western governments, which have called it a \u201csystemic rival\u201d. And no other allies have the geopolitical and military clout of Russia, even now it stands diminished by military failures in Ukraine and the financial sanctions prompted by the invasion.
\nJust before Putin ordered troops across the border, China described their partnership as a \u201cno limits\u201d alliance. Repeated meetings between Xi and Putin since then, including Xi\u2019s state visit to Moscow, have left no doubt about where Beijing believes its main interests lie.
\nAccording to a Chinese official, Beijing plans to send a delegation to Ukraine and other countries with the aim of starting peace negotiations.
\nThe phone call followed the release of a Chinese-proposed 12-point peace plan and repeated requests from Zelenskiy for a meeting with Xi both before and after the Chinese leader visited Russia\u2019s President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month.
\nThe peace plan document portrayed China as a neutral party and urged the two sides to enter into peace negotiations.
\nThe paper\u2019s first point was that \u201cthe sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will send a delegation to Ukraine to hold talks with all parties on resolving the conflict there, after his first phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, since Russia invaded in February 2022. According to Chinese state media, Xi made the offer during a telephone call on Wednesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292075,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-327705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n