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Ukraine has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to join world leaders at a “peace summit” in Switzerland.
The advisor of the Presidential Office of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva told this in an interview with Reuters.
“China’s participation will be very important to us. We are working with the Chinese side. We involve our partners in the world so that they convey to the Chinese side how important it is to participate in such a summit,” stated Zhovkva.
China’s Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a “no limits” partnership in Beijing just three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2024. After the invasion, China has maintained close relations with Russia, leaving out criticism of the invasion.
For example, Russia shipped a record 107.02 million metric tons of crude oil to China last year, equivalent to 2.14 million barrels per day (bpd), which makes it China’s top crude oil supplier. Such cooperation is a result of China neglecting international sanctions.
Switzerland will host the Ukraine peace summit but no date or venue has yet been set. Zhovkva said teams were working on the details.
China’s representative participated in a meeting on Ukraine in Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2023, and Xi and Zelenskiy had a phone call.
Last year, on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China proposed its “peace plan”, called “China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis”.
“All parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible, so as to gradually deescalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire,” the document said.
However, there were no details on how to reach “a comprehensive ceasefire” or “abandon the Cold War mentality” (another point of the document – ed.) while the aggressor was attacking Ukrainian civilians daily in winter of 2023, causing deaths and blackouts.
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