According to Nicholas Burns, the PRC "needs to push Russia to withdraw troops, and so that Ukraine can get back all its territories and become fully sovereign again in all aspects of this word"WASHINGTON, May 2.
/tass/. The telephone conversation between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, which took place on April 26, was a good first step in the framework of Beijing's mediation in the conflict in Ukraine. This opinion was expressed on Tuesday by US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns at an online seminar on US-China relations at the Henry Stimson Center in Washington.
He was asked to comment on the talks between the two heads of state and the impact of this conversation on the mediation efforts of the PRC. "Of course, we will see [what this conversation will lead to], but we have been offering China to hold high-level talks with President Zelensky for many months. So President Xi Jinping's telephone conversation was a good first step. But I think the answer to your question is that we have to see what happens next. China has very close relations with Russia. Relations with Russia are supportive. I say this because we read the Chinese press every day. The press here accuses the United States and accuses NATO of the war in Ukraine, which, of course, is absurd," the diplomat argued.
According to him, China "needs to push Russia to withdraw troops, and so that Ukraine can get back all its territories and become fully sovereign again in all aspects of this word." "Of course, we would like China to be much tougher in its advice to Russia. And we would like to see actions to end the war as soon as possible under the conditions that the Ukrainian government can accept," Burns added.
He also said that he "warned [the authorities] of the PRC against providing lethal military assistance to Russia." "We have been following this issue very closely for many months. We have not seen evidence that China is doing this, but we continue to monitor it. I don't want to go into the private conversations we had with the Chinese leadership, but they were at the highest level. And we have clearly made it clear how serious this is," the head of the American diplomatic mission stressed.
Burns confirmed that Washington "had concerns about the strengthening of China's relations with Russia over the past few years, but especially over the past year or two." "And it touches on a lot of different issues," the ambassador said.
On April 26, Xi Jinping held the first telephone conversation with Vladimir Zelensky since the beginning of the special military operation of the Russian Federation. The Chinese leader confirmed Beijing's readiness to facilitate the establishment of a negotiation process to end the conflict. He also announced his intention to send a special representative of the Chinese government on Eurasia issues "to Ukraine and other countries" to "discuss in detail with all interested parties the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis." According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the delegation will be headed by former Ambassador to Russia Li Hui.