China says Jeddah talks on Ukraine helped to ‘consolidate international consensus’

BEIJING - China’s Foreign Ministry said 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”.

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 find common ground for an eventual political settlement of the conflict, now in its 18th month.

Mr Li “had extensive contact and communication with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis... listened to all sides’ opinions and proposals, and further consolidated international consensus”, the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement to Reuters.

“All parties positively commented on Li Hui’s attendance, and fully backed China’s positive role in facilitating peace talks,” the statement said.

China will continue to strengthen dialogue based on its 12-point peace proposal, and “accumulate mutual trust”, it said, without going into specific details.

China’s attendance signals possible shifts in Beijing’s approach but not a U-turn in its support for Moscow, analysts said.

Beijing has

refused to condemn Moscow

for the invasion it launched in February 2022. But it has offered its own peace plan, which received a lukewarm response in both Russia and Ukraine while the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation were sceptical.

Eighteen months after Russia invaded Ukraine, any prospect of direct peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow appears remote as fighting rages along the front line.

The two-day meeting in Jeddah was part of a diplomatic push by Ukraine to build support beyond its core Western backers by reaching out to Global South countries that have been reluctant to take sides in a conflict that has hit the global economy.

A senior Ukrainian official said on Sunday that talks in Saudi Arabia had been productive, but Moscow called the meeting a doomed attempt to swing the Global South behind Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s head of staff Andriy Yermak said in a statement: “We had very productive consultations on the key principles on which a just and lasting peace should be built.”

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by state media on Sunday as saying that the meeting was “a reflection of the West’s attempt to continue futile, doomed efforts” to mobilise the Global South behind Mr Zelensky’s position.

Saudi Arabia’s Media Ministry said participants had agreed on the importance of continuing consultations to pave the way for peace.

European officials have said that participants planned to establish working groups to address specific problems raised by the war. REUTERS