China’s state-run Global Times on Wednesday touted top diplomat Wang Yi’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as an epochal moment in Beijing’s rise to global dominance because the world supposedly realizes that only China can possibly mediate an end to the war in Ukraine.
“Since Kiev is deeply influenced by Washington, which is not interested in an immediate ceasefire but prefers a prolonged conflict to keep undermining Moscow and change the status quo by force, it is really hard to see a feasible formula for peace that both sides can accept,” the Global Times sneered.
With the warmongering Americans out of the way, Wang was able to sit down with the affable, peace-loving leader of Russia and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, to have peaceful chats about the peace they would all like to see blossoming in Ukraine:
Wang and Lavrov had in-depth discussions on the Ukraine issue. Wang emphasized that the more complicated the situation is, the more we cannot give up efforts for peace. It is hoped that all parties will overcome difficulties, continue to create conditions for dialogue and negotiation, and find effective ways of political settlement.
No matter how the international situation changes, China is willing to maintain the sound development momentum on the new model of major-country relationship with Russia, Wang told Lavrov.
Experts said Wang’s meetings with the top leader and senior officials of Russia show that Moscow values highly its strategic ties with China and is also treating China’s idea on the Ukraine issue seriously, and this is proof of China’s unique influence for mediation purposes.
Wang heavily promoted China’s forthcoming “white paper” on peace, which the Ukranians politely offered to study in detail whenever Beijing gets around to releasing it. China’s propagandists argued that the Western world is incapable of finding a solution to the conflict because it remains so fixated upon who invaded whom, so China must step up as a peacemaker.
“If the West refuses to admit that some of Russia’s security concerns are legitimate and reasonable, then they will just repeat the mistakes they had made with NATO’s expansion in the past decades that eventually led to the current conflict,” the Global Times growled.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seemed a bit skeptical on Thursday of China’s hype for its still-gestating peace plan.
“China have told us they have such an initiative. But I have not seen the document yet,” Zelensky said at a press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
“I think it is a very good fact in general that China started talking about Ukraine and sent some signals. We’ll draw some conclusions after we see the specifics of what they offer,” Zelensky said, expressing a willingness to meet with China to discuss its proposals after they are published.
Zelensky insisted this week that Ukraine has already laid a “peace formula” before the U.N. General Assembly, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said it must be considered the “top priority,” no matter what China comes up with.
Zelensky’s plan includes Russian troops withdrawing from Ukrainian territory and facing war crimes trials for any abuses they have committed. Such bullet points are unlikely to be found in the Chinese plan while the Russians have rejected Zelensky’s ideas out of hand.
For all of the Global Times’ hosannas to the brotherly relationship between Beijing and Moscow, it was the Russians who deflated China’s peace plan hoopla. In fact, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed it was the West that made a big deal about the plan China cannot stop talking about.
“We note statements by some Western politicians and media reports regarding some kind of ‘Chinese peace plan.’ As usual, they distort the real picture,” Zakharova said after Wang met with Lavrov on Wednesday.
“The Chinese partners briefed us on their views on the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis as well as approaches to its political settlement. There was no talk of any separate ‘plan,’” she said.