China’s Wang Yi tells Russia it will uphold ‘impartial’ position on Ukraine

BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone conversation on Monday that China would uphold an independent and impartial position on Ukraine as it strives to find a political settlement to the issue.

Mr Wang’s comments to Mr Lavrov were announced in a Foreign Ministry statement on Monday that said China would be an “objective and rational voice” at any international multilateral forums and “actively promote peace talks”.

The statement came after the ministry said earlier on Monday that international talks in Saudi Arabia at the weekend on finding a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine crisis had

helped “to consolidate international consensus”.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff said on Monday that talks in Saudi Arabia dealt a “huge blow” to Russia, and that the participants agreed to hold another meeting of political advisers within about six weeks.

Mr Andriy Yermak told a briefing in Kyiv that no other peace initiatives were discussed at the meeting in Jeddah apart from Ukraine’s, and all countries present at the talks had fully supported Ukrainian independence and territorial integrity.

More than 40 countries, including China, India, the United States and European countries, but not Russia, took part in the Jeddah talks that ended on Sunday.

China sent its Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs and former ambassador to Russia, Mr Li Hui, who in May toured six European capitals to try to find common ground for an eventual political settlement of the conflict, now in its 18th month.

Beijing has

refused to condemn Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine

it launched in February 2022.

It has offered its own peace plan, which received a lukewarm response in both Russia and Ukraine, while the US and Nato were sceptical. REUTERS