[1/2] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a news conference on the first anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 24, 2023. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Summary China sets out 12-point plan to halt conflict
China warns against use of nuclear weapons
Zelenskiy signals could consider parts of plan
BEIJING, Feb 24 (Reuters) - China called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was open to considering parts of a 12-point peace plan put forward by Beijing.
On the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's ally China urged both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation, warned against the use of nuclear weapons and said conflict benefited no one.
The plan, set out in a foreign ministry paper, was largely a reiteration of China's line since Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" on Feb. 24 last year.
China has refrained from condemning its ally Russia or referring to Moscow's intervention in its neighbour as an "invasion". It has also criticised Western sanctions on Russia.
"All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiralling out of control," the ministry said in its paper.
The initial reaction from Kyiv was dismissive, with a senior adviser to President Zelenskiy saying any plan to end the war must involve the withdrawal of Russian troops to borders in place when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
However, Zelenskiy himself struck a more receptive tone in a news conference to mark the first anniversary of the conflict.
Russia said it appreciated China's plan and that it was open to achieving its goals through political and diplomatic means.
The proposals however cut little ice with NATO.
"China doesn't have much credibility because they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Tallinn.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signalled he will double down on the conflict, despite major battlefield defeats in the past year, and has raised the spectre of nuclear weapons.
China said nuclear weapons must be avoided.
"Nuclear weapons must not be used and nuclear wars must not be fought," the foreign ministry said. "We oppose development, use of biological and chemical weapons by any country under any circumstances."
Since the war began weeks after Beijing and Moscow announced a "no limits" partnership, President Xi Jinping has spoken regularly with Putin but not once with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskiy. China's top diplomat Wang Yi visited Moscow for talks this week.
Brazil's new President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stressed the need for a peace deal brokered by outsiders.
"It is urgent that a group of countries not involved in the conflict assume the responsibility of leading negotiations to reestablish peace," Lula said on Twitter.
There had been speculation that President Xi would deliver a "peace speech" on Friday but that did not occur.
Reporting by Beijing newsroom and Martin Quin Pollard; Additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista, Max Hunder, Dan Peleschuk, Pavel Polityuk, Bart Meijer, Steven Grattan and Caleb Davis; Writing by Bernard Orr, Liz Lee and Keith Weir; Editing by Michael Perry, Kim Coghill, Robert Birsel and Andrew Heavens
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Harmonic_Strategy on February 26th, 2023 at 22:21 UTC »
I finally read the document, please don't reply unless you've also read the document, it's a short read.
A year ago, China promised Russia united cooperation. Now they're starting the diplomatic groundwork for peace talks. China is also laying out some ground rules, like 'don't abuse POWs', 'don't blow up nuclear power plants', 'international plan to rebuild Ukraine', 'don't use WMD'. Most of the points would be helpful on balance to Ukraine, given they're the victim of aggression and Russia controls the escalation ladder right now.
Obviously this document expresses Chinese desires for the shape of the world order too. 'Stopping unilateral sanctions' is a funny one given how toothless any UN sanctions are, also 'get out of cold war mentality'. Although you have to wonder if they mean it to apply more equally to USA and Russia now, instead of just USA. I'd love to see a comparison of Chinese talking points from a year ago as there are lots of little nuance I'm probably missing.
It seems like China is grappling with this issue seriously, given their conflicted interests, rather than just taking Russia's side. Some of the points mirror Russia's propaganda, especially point 2 and the last sentence of point 8. (Russia claimed USA had secret biological WMD in Ukraine, or Nazi-Satanist chemical labs, or something) Clearly lots of different thought streams converged here and pro-Russia mentality still has great influence.
So the Ukrainian reaction is spot on - its a step in the right direction from Russia's key diplomatic partner, although still has issues from their side. It's not a full on embrace of Ukranian sovereignty and welfare, but there is genuinely more good in this piece of paper than China probably gets credit for in Western media. It's self interested, China's influence would rise - but what can you expect, this is geopolitics after all.
FatStupidOldMan on February 26th, 2023 at 20:58 UTC »
The only thing I’ll say, is if Ukraine brokers peace with Chinese mediation… it ties Russia’s hands pretty badly. Because if Russia breaks it, it would be catastrophic for China’s diplomatic reputation.
It will look like they conspired to break Ukraine and it would permanently tie the two nations together in a really negative way. China doesn’t want Russia as its sole ally. Considering it needs to do business with the world.
It’s an interesting idea… it feels unlikely, but it has potential.
PangolinZestyclose30 on February 26th, 2023 at 20:16 UTC »
I'm quite surprised that this "position paper" gets so much attention and various countries make statements on it. It's not a "peace plan" at all, just a list of China's (previously known) platitudes which are not actionable.
Given that, I suspect there must be much more going on in the backroom negotiations.