According to the South China Morning Post, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to visit Beijing in the coming days and weeksHONG KONG, March 23.
/tass/. The Chinese authorities will face diplomatic pressure on the issue of the Ukrainian crisis during the upcoming visits of Western leaders to Beijing. This was reported on Thursday by the South China Morning Post with reference to experts.
According to the newspaper, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to visit Beijing in the coming days and weeks.
According to Ding Yifan, a senior researcher at the Chinese analytical institute "Taihe", it is unlikely that Chinese and Western politicians will find mutual understanding. "The leaders of [Western countries] will ask China not to support Russia" in its special military operation in Ukraine, and China will say that it promotes peace and encourages negotiations," the publication quotes him.
Raffaello Pantucci, a senior researcher at Singapore's Sinnatambi Rajaratnam School of International Studies, believes that China is serious in its efforts for a peaceful settlement, in particular regarding its 12-point plan. "His [Chinese President Xi Jinping's] goal is to act as a peace mediator," he said.
Speaking about the upcoming visits, Director of the Institute of International Relations at the People's University of China Wang Yiwei noted that Macron and other politicians will raise the topic of Ukraine. "They expect China to use its charm in the negotiations on a truce in Ukraine, as it did with the Saudi-Iranian normalization. Ukraine has not rejected China's peace offer. She is positive about him," said Wang Yiwei.
In February, the Chinese Foreign Ministry published a position paper on the political settlement of the crisis in Ukraine. It includes 12 points, including calls for a ceasefire, respect for the legitimate interests of all countries in the field of security, the settlement of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the exchange of prisoners of war between Moscow and Kiev, as well as the rejection of the imposition of unilateral sanctions without a corresponding decision of the UN Security Council. In the published document, China called the negotiations "the only way to resolve the crisis in Ukraine" and called on all parties to support Moscow and Kiev in "moving towards each other", as well as in the early resumption of direct dialogue. The text emphasizes that the international community should create conditions and provide a platform for the resumption of negotiations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, following talks with Xi Jinping on Tuesday, said that many points of the Chinese peace plan for Ukraine can be taken as the basis for a settlement when the West and Kiev are ready for it. At the same time, he noted that "so far there is no such readiness" on the other side.
