On Friday, the Chinese foreign ministry and Kremlin confirmed that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia from March 20 to 22, a month after Beijing proposed a 12-point peace proposal to end the crisis sparked by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The visit took place not long after China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang called on Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba, his colleague in the Ukrainian government, to encourage peace talks over the phone.
Instead of referring to Moscow’s war on Ukraine as an invasion, Beijing has accused the United States and NATO of engaging in provocative behaviour.
Hua Chunying, the secretary of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Russia from March 20 to March 22.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping would discuss “issues of further establishing a broad partnership and economic actors between Russia and China” and exchange views “in the framework of strengthening Russian-Chinese collaboration in the international arena.” The visit by Xi is said to have lent support to Putin in the article.
In a conversation that took place between Qin and Kuleba on Thursday evening, Qin expressed China’s concern on the increase in violence in Ukraine and the crisis spiralling out of control. It’s possible that Xi may talk to the leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, very soon.
“We hope that Russia and Ukraine will not give up hope for discussion and negotiation and will not shut the door on the possibility of reaching a political settlement, regardless of how difficult and complicated the situation may be. Qin declared that China will maintain its support for a ceasefire in order to bring an end to the conflict, alleviate the situation, and reestablish peace.
Xi’s most recent trip to Russia took place in 2019, while Putin was in Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. At a meeting on security held in Uzbekistan in September, the two presidents had the opportunity to meet one another.
