He reaffirmed the already known positions with the only addition of the commitment to send the former ambassador Li Hui to Ukraine and Moscow “for in-depth communication.” The issue of safeguarding territorial integrity, reiterated today also to the other former Soviet republics, intersects with Beijing’s positions on its borders. Meanwhile, “efforts to restore peace” in today’s meeting between Pope Francis and Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal.
Milan ( / Agencies) – The phone call with kyiv has arrived after more than a year. Along with it, the commitment to send “to Ukraine and other countries” the special representative of the Chinese government for Eurasian affairs – Beijing’s former ambassador to Moscow Li Hui – “to have in-depth communication with all parties on the solution crisis politics”. But beyond this and the rhetoric of the official Chinese media about Beijing taking care of putting out a fire that others are pouring gasoline on, there is no substantive news in the accounts of yesterday’s telephone conversation between Chinese President Xi Jingping and President Ukrainian Volodymir Zelensky.
The phone call – reportedly at the initiative of Kiev and welcomed by Beijing – followed the lines of the 12-point “peace plan” the Chinese president announced in February, which was limited to a series of statements of principles that included the preservation of territorial integrity, but without explaining how this could be compatible with the Russian invasion fourteen months ago. After all, from the beginning China never wanted the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. And the same “unlimited partnership” with Moscow – reiterated by Xi Jinping in his meeting this month in Moscow with Vladimir Putin – even in the economic field has so far been much more attentive to its own interests than to political support for its ally. With Ukraine, therefore, bilateral relations within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative had reached significant levels before the war, with Chinese investments in infrastructure worth 2,000 million dollars a year between 2019 and 2021. And yesterday Zelensky trusted that the phone call with Xi Jinping “provides a strong impetus for the return, preservation and development of this dynamic at all levels.”
In the note on the conversation released by Beijing, Xi Jinping would have reiterated that “China is not a party to the conflict and does not want to remain on the sidelines, nor add fuel to the fire and take advantage of the situation.” Words from which the intention to reaffirm their place at any negotiating table can be deduced more than a specific intention to advance in a mediation role.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has given another reassuring signal today, this time for the Central Asian countries. In a meeting with his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in the city of Xian, Foreign Minister Qin Gang said that “China will, as always, firmly support Central Asian countries in safeguarding of national sovereignty, independence, security and territorial integrity”. New words of comfort after the uproar caused by Beijing’s ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, who in an interview on French television on April 21 had questioned the sovereignty of the former Soviet republics.
In short, the diplomatic game to resolve the conflict in Ukraine has yet to begin. And the hope that emerges from today’s meeting in the Vatican between Pope Francis and the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, also points to encouraging this path. “During the cordial talks,” says the note released by the Vatican, “the various issues related to the war in Ukraine were highlighted, with special attention to the humanitarian aspect and efforts to restore peace.” Asia could become a major crossroads in the coming weeks, thanks to the G7 summit scheduled for Hiroshima on May 19-21. Yesterday, some observers wondered if the phone call between Xi Jinping and Zelensky could also pave the way for US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to travel to Beijing, which was scheduled for February but was postponed due to the “crisis”. of spy balloons.
For his part, Xi Jinping, in yesterday’s phone call, despite the Taiwan issue, took the opportunity for Zelensky to reaffirm Ukraine’s “unwavering adherence to the one-China policy,” according to the account of the call. telephone published by Kiev. Because even as it insists on territorial integrity, Beijing cares far more about its own borders than anyone else’s.
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