The first conversation after 21 months; In his conversation with Zelensky, Xi Jinping spoke about the necessity of “negotiation”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday for the first time since the start of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
In this telephone conversation, the President of China called for “negotiations” between Moscow and Kiev and emphasized that Beijing has always been in favor of “peace”.
On the other hand, Volodymyr Zelensky described the conversation with his Chinese counterpart as “long and significant”. The spokesperson of the president of Ukraine also said that the telephone conversation between the presidents of the two countries lasted “almost an hour”.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s last phone call with the President of China was in July 2021, six months before the beginning of the Russian invasion. Beijing has announced that it will send a delegation to Ukraine for a “political settlement” of the ongoing conflict.
So far, China has not recognized Russia’s decision last September to annex four regions from eastern Ukraine to its territory. In 2014, Beijing did not recognize the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula to Russia. However, China has not yet publicly condemned the war in Ukraine and has increased the level of political and economic cooperation with Moscow in recent months.
After his phone conversation with Xi Jinping on Wednesday, the president of Ukraine decided to introduce the new ambassador of his country to China. Since February 2021, no one has been nominated for the position of ambassador of Ukraine in Beijing.
Two months ago, China published a document with 12 paragraphs explaining Beijing’s position on the war in Ukraine.
