The Wall Street Journal reported on March 23 that Ukrainian presidential spokesman Andriy Yermak said Volodymyr Zelensky planned to hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. It was part of a whirlwind online visit by the Ukrainian president to rally support for Ukraine in the face of a nearly month-long Russian attack.
Yermak tweeted that Kyiv wanted China to play a more important role in ending the war.
According to a Reuters report on March 22, Yermak attended a video seminar organized by the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and mentioned that Ukraine wants China to play a more “prominent and active role” in ending the Ukraine-Russian war. .
Yermak expected Zelensky and Chinese President Xi Jinping to talk “soon”, Reuters reported, but gave no further clarification.
Prior to this, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also called on the CCP on March 21 to come forward and play an “important role” in helping to resolve the conflict brought about by the Russian-Ukrainian war.
When asked if Zelensky would speak with Xi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China was in communication with relevant parties on the situation in Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal reported that China is viewed as “particularly important” because of its potential influence over Russia. U.S. President Joe Biden warned in a video call with Xi Jinping on Friday (March 18) that China would suffer the consequences if it provided material assistance for Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine.
Zelensky held talks Tuesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others including Pope Francis, ahead of a series of upcoming meetings in Brussels. Participants in the Brussels meeting were mainly Western leaders. Biden plans to discuss support for Ukraine and how to further punish Moscow with leaders of NATO, the G7 and the European Union.
China backs Russia’s G20 membership
Reuters reported on March 23 that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to attend the G20 summit in Indonesia later this year, and on Wednesday (March 23) received support from China.
The United States and its Western allies are evaluating whether Russia should remain a member of the G20 after its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters has learned from sources involved in the discussions.
But any move to exclude Russia is expected to be vetoed by other G20 nations, potentially leading some to opt out of the G20 meeting, the sources said.
Indonesia currently holds the rotating presidency of the G20, and Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva said Putin intends to travel to Bali, Indonesia, for the G20 summit in November.
Chinese officials said on Wednesday that Russia was an “important member” of the G20.
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, “No member has the right to expel the membership of other countries. The G20 should practice genuine multilateralism and strengthen solidarity and cooperation.”
Indonesia’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the request to exclude Russia from the G20.
China on diplomatic brink in Russia-Ukraine conflict
Chu Bailiang, a senior media person, wrote a news analysis in the New York Times on March 23, saying that leaders of other countries in the world called on the CCP to play a more active role in the Russian-Ukrainian war, but the CCP did the opposite, trying to keep a distance from the war. China has urged peace, but has not intervened to mediate or organize negotiations, leaving those efforts to much smaller countries such as France, Turkey and Israel.
Chu Bailiang analyzed that, in the eyes of Beijing officials, more forceful intervention is full of political and economic risks for CCP leader Xi Jinping that it seems unwilling to take, and as a result, the CCP is on the edge of diplomacy in this conflict, which it is unable or unwilling to take. Exercising influence commensurate with the country’s growing economic and military might.
John Delury, a professor of China studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, said that if Xi really wants to end the crisis, the CCP’s unprepared response shows that it is incompetent in world politics, despite decades of It has been trying to achieve great power status.
Chu Bailiang wrote that the CCP’s avoidance of criticizing Russia has weakened its self-proclaimed neutrality claim and hardened European attitudes toward China. European nations have shown extraordinary solidarity against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ahead of the April 1 summit between the European Union and China. China’s stance has also prompted warnings from the United States that providing explicit economic or military assistance to Russia would result in severe U.S. punishment.
Chu Bailiang said that what drives China’s policymaking is a zero-sum game: China believes that forcing Russia to make concessions is in fact tantamount to strengthening the position of the United States and its allies. At the same time, China cannot afford to cut ties with the United States and its allies.
“The CCP does not have any other partners with the same strategic weight as Russia, and Russia, like Xi Jinping, doesn’t believe in the current international order,” said Bilahari Kosgan, a former Singapore ambassador to Russia and UN representative. “That’s the bottom line. “Chinese officials will not do anything that would fundamentally jeopardize relations with Russia or weaken Putin’s grip on power.”
Officials in Washington see Xi’s stance as a two-pronged approach, contrasting it with China’s diplomatic approach around North Korea’s nuclear program. On the North Korean issue, China has been calling on the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions while still supplying North Korea with energy and other products to help North Korea mitigate the impact of UN sanctions.
Expert: Pinning your hopes on the CCP is tantamount to scheming with a tiger
On March 22, Voice of Hope interviewed Zheng Qinmo, Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Tamkang and Guo Yuren, Executive Director of the National Policy Research Institute, regarding the possible mediation role of the CCP in the Russian-Ukrainian War.
Guo Yuren said that Western countries believe that the CCP is the most qualified to intervene in mediation, but the problem is that the CCP has missed the moment to turn its back on Russia. The CCP is currently in an embarrassing position, trying its best to not favor Russia or Ukraine on the surface, and waiting for an opportunity to intervene in mediation.
Zheng Qinmo said that if Western countries pin their hopes of a truce on the CCP, it would be tantamount to seeking skin from a tiger, and Beijing is also waiting for such an opportunity to profit from both sides. As long as the CCP cooperates with Western sanctions, Russia’s war will be unsustainable, but the CCP hopes to hold on to Putin and wait for the opportunity to blackmail the West.
Zheng Qinmo said that for the CCP, the current attitude should be economic aid rather than military aid to Russia, which can support Putin without completely severing relations with the United States and Europe, and may even be subject to secondary Western sanctions. The Chinese Communist Party has officially stated that sanctions will only undermine the post-pandemic reconstruction of the global economy, and it has also indicated that it will provide comprehensive economic assistance to Russia. The CCP’s current strategy can be seen from the massive import of oil and gas from Russia in March.