China, Brazil press on with Ukraine peace plan despite Zelensky's ire
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky taking part in an interview on FOX News Live in New York City, on Sept 27.
PHOTO: AFP
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UNITED NATIONS - China and Brazil on Sept 27 pressed ahead with an effort to gather developing countries behind a plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's dismissal of the initiative as serving Moscow's interests.
Seventeen countries attended a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly chaired by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Brazilian foreign policy adviser Celso Amorim.
Mr Wang told reporters they discussed the need to prevent escalation in the war, to avoid the use of weapons of mass destruction and prevent attacks on nuclear power plants.
"Russia and Ukraine are neighbours that cannot be moved away from each other and amity is the only realistic option," Mr Wang said, adding that the international community should support an international peace conference involving both Russia and Ukraine.
As well as Brazil and China, 10 countries from the Global South who were present, including Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey, signed a communique that Mr Amorim said builds on an earlier six-point plan proposed by Brazil and China in May.
Countries would continue to meet in New York under a grouping of "friends for peace", he added.
Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a "no limits" partnership deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2022, less than three weeks before Russian troops entered Ukraine.
Beijing says it has not supplied Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine, but Western countries say its companies provide materials that Russia uses in the manufacture of weapons for the war.
Mr Zelensky, in a speech to the assembly on Sept 25, questioned why China and Brazil were proposing an alternative to his own peace formula.
Proposing "alternatives, half-hearted settlement plans, so-called sets of principles" would only give Moscow the political space to continue the war, he said.
Asked about Mr Zelensky's comment, Mr Amorim told Reuters, "I'm not here to respond either to Zelensky or Putin, just to propose a way for peace." REUTERS
