Beijing: China’s President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have called for “peace talks” to stop the war in Ukraine, a joint statement signed by both leaders said, adding that Moscow “welcomes” the Chinese “peace proposals” issued in February as the basis for the dialogue.
The Chinese proposal, which was issued on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, had made no call for Moscow to withdraw troops from the East European country and neither did it call the Russian act an “invasion”.
The Chinese proposal has been criticised by the West, which has questioned Beijing’s attempt to position itself as “impartial” given the close ties between China and Russia.
“The Russian side reaffirms its commitment to the resumption of peace talks as soon as possible, which China appreciates. The Russian side welcomes China’s willingness to play a positive role for the political and diplomatic settlement of the Ukraine crisis and welcomes the constructive proposals set forth in China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis,” the Sino-Russia joint statement titled “Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era” said.
“The two sides oppose the practice by any country or group of countries to seek advantages in the military, political and other areas to the detriment of the legitimate security interests of other countries,” the joint statement said.
“The two sides point out that to settle the Ukraine crisis, the security concerns of all countries must be respected, bloc confrontation should be prevented and fanning the flames avoided,” the statement said, referring to the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
“The two sides also stress that responsible dialogue is the best way for appropriate solutions.”
The statement also said “the two sides oppose any unilateral sanctions unauthorised by the UN Security Council,” making amply clear Beijing’s support for Moscow against economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the US, Europe, Japan, and other countries.
The two sides said NATO should “abide by its commitments as a regional and defensive organisation” and called on NATO to “…respect the sovereignty, security, interests as well as diversity of civilisations, history and culture of other countries, and treat their peaceful development in an objective and fair manner”.
“The two sides oppose piecing together a closed and exclusive group structure in the region, and stirring group politics and camp confrontation.”
“Both sides agree to strengthen cooperation in law enforcement such as preventing the “colour revolution”, and cracking down on the “three forces” including the “East Turkestan Islamic Movement”, transnational organised crime, economic crime and drug crime.
“The two countries call on an objective, impartial and professional investigation into the explosion of the Nord Stream pipeline,” the statement said, according to state-run China Daily newspaper, adding that they jointly oppose the attempt to politicise origin tracing of viruses.
