China will only support a peace conference to resolve the conflict in Ukraine if Russia is invited to it, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“China supports the timely convening of an international peace conference recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation of all sides and fair discussion of all peace plans”, Xi Jinping said (quoted by RIA Novosti).
He also outlined “four principles” for resolving the conflict in Ukraine. He said countries should focus on “maintaining peace and stability and refrain from seeking self-serving goals”, as well as “cooling the situation and not adding fuel to the fire”.
“We should create conditions for restoring peace and refrain from further escalating tensions”, Xi Jinping emphasized, calling for “reducing the negative impact on the world economy” from the war in Ukraine.
During the talks, Xi Jinping and Olaf Scholz also agreed on the need to “uphold UN principles and oppose the use of nuclear weapons or attacks on peaceful targets or nuclear facilities”.
Earlier, Swiss Foreign Minister Iñazio Cassis said that the talks on a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis could not take place without Russia, but nevertheless, Russian representatives will not be present at the conference scheduled for June 15-16.
The talks, to be held in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, will be attended by the G7 countries and representatives of the so-called “global South”, including China, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Ethiopia.
Several of the participating countries insist on inviting Russia to the conference, but Kiev wants to reach agreement on key positions that will “form the basis for a future agreement” before including Moscow in the dialog, Bloomberg wrote.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that Russia will not participate in an international conference on Ukraine to be held in Switzerland. “This forum will be dedicated to promoting the ultimatum Zelensky’s formula, although its Swiss organizers pretend that they are looking for a common denominator of peace initiatives of different countries”, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained.
According to her, the “experience” of the Minsk agreements and the Russian-Ukrainian talks in 2022 showed “the lack of agreement between Kyiv and the West”, and Switzerland “can hardly” serve as a platform for peacemaking efforts, since Bern has lost its peace status.
