China has released its much-anticipated position paper on the Russia-Ukraine war, calling for a ceasefire and talks between the two parties.
Conflict and war “do no good for anyone,” China said on Friday in the 12-point paper, timed to coincide with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
“All parties must remain rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and escalating tensions, and prevent the crisis from worsening or even spiraling out of control,” it said.
What is planned?
The plan, released by the State Department, calls for an end to Western sanctions against Russia, the establishment of humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians and measures to ensure grain exports after disruptions last year caused global food prices to spike.
The proposal mainly addresses long-held Chinese positions, including the requirement that “the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries be effectively guaranteed”.
Nuclear power plants must be kept safe and the threat or use of nuclear weapons must be combated.
The plan also called for an end to the “Cold War mentality,” Beijing’s standard term for what it sees as global dominance by the United States and its interference in other countries’ affairs.
How did Ukraine react?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kiev must work with China to end the war.
“China has started talking about Ukraine, and that’s not bad,” said Zelenskyy. “It seems to me that our territorial integrity and security issues are respected.”
“We need to work with China on this point. … Our job is to unite everyone to isolate one,” he added.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, said any plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine must include the withdrawal of Moscow troops to Ukraine’s 1991 borders at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“Any ‘peace plan’ with only a ceasefire and, as a result, a new border line and continued occupation of Ukrainian territory has nothing to do with peace, but with the freezing of the war, a Ukrainian defeat, [and the] next stage of genocide in Russia,” he said in a post on Twitter.
“Ukraine’s position is known – the withdrawal of Russian troops to the 1991 borders,” he said.
Any “peace plan” with only truce and as a result of a new border line and continued occupation of 🇺🇦 territory is not about peace but about freezing the war, 🇺🇦 defeat, next stages of 🇷🇺 genocide.
🇺🇦 Position is known – the withdrawal of 🇷🇺 troops to the borders of 1991— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) February 24, 2023
Earlier, Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister told Al Jazeera that the country welcomes China’s proposal to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.
“We welcome any initiative that is actually aimed at finding peace and solving the war,” Emine Dzhaparova told Al Jazeera from Kyiv. “…We are the country most interested in peace because we have been suffering from this hell for a year.”
“The document … we received this morning is called China’s political position on the crisis. We will study it thoroughly,” she added. “The only thing I want to clarify is what the basis for this peace is, because we believe in justice and fair peace, not appeasement.”
How did the western allies react?
The 12-point document revealed no new initiatives, and Western diplomats and experts reacted with skepticism and disappointment, noting that China was not neutral and did not condemn the invasion of Russia.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Beijing was not well placed to negotiate an end to the war.
“China doesn’t have much credibility because it wasn’t able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine,” he told reporters in Tallinn, adding that Beijing signed an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin days before the invasion.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed Stoltenberg’s views, saying China did not share a peace plan but shared some principles.
“You have to see them against a certain background, and that’s the background against which China has already taken sides, for example by signing an unlimited friendship just before the invasion,” she said.
“So of course we’re going to look at the principles, but we’re going to look at them against the background that China has taken sides,” said the former German defense minister.
A spokesman for the German government pointed out that important elements such as a call for the withdrawal of Russian forces were missing from the proposal.
“It is important that China discusses these ideas directly with Ukraine now, as this is the only way to find a balanced solution that takes into account Ukraine’s legitimate interests,” the spokesman said.
What do experts say?
Nicholas Bequelin, a visiting fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, told Al Jazeera that China cannot be an effective mediator in the Russia-Ukraine war and the proposals put forward “reflect that.”
“It’s not a plan; There are no measures that China is proposing,” Bequelin said. “It articulates a set of principles about how China views this conflict. China is really stuck in the Ukraine conflict because it doesn’t welcome the war. It causes untold problems for China in its relationship with Europe, its economy, its place in the world.
“At the same time, what has ingrained Beijing’s worldview is that a showdown with the US is looming,” he said. “Sooner or later there will be a showdown with the West because the West is trying to contain China’s rise and therefore cannot afford to be without an ally like Russia. So it has to pretend to be neutral while somehow siding with Russia and certainly not accepting involvement in the US and NATO war effort.”