Chinaʼs special representative will visit Ukraine to discuss the settlement of the war

The special representative of China will visit Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia.

This was reported by Xinhua with reference to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.

His "tour" starts on March 2. The main topic is the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Chinaʼs Foreign Ministry said that Li Huiʼs trip is "the second round of diplomacy to find a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis [as China calls the Russian invasion]."

Hui first visited Ukraine and EU countries in May 2023. At that time, he stated the importance of Chinaʼs participation in the implementation of the peace formula voiced by Volodymyr Zelensky and guaranteeing nuclear security. The Wall Street Journal newspaper wrote that Hui was in favor of a ceasefire with the preservation of occupied Ukrainian lands by Russia.

Officially, after the trip, Hui called on all parties to create conditions for peace talks.

• Chinese leader Xi Jinping decided to send Huey on a "tour" of Europe after the first phone conversation with Zelensky since the start of Russiaʼs full-scale war against Ukraine, which took place at the end of April 2023. Li became the highest Chinese official to visit Ukraine since the beginning of the war.
• The American broadcaster NBC News told a biography of the special representative, from which it follows that Li Hui is a profitable figure for Moscow. And may even become the most convenient negotiator for the Russians when they have to lay down their arms. Hui devoted most of his career to work in the USSR and post-Soviet countries. In the late 1990s, he was Chinaʼs ambassador to Kazakhstan, and since 2009 he has worked as an ambassador to Russia for ten years. He assured that China needs a "stronger Russia", that both countries equally understand the need for a strong state and should support each other. According to Russian analysts, Hui understands the worldview of the Russians, so his figure as a negotiator is quite comfortable, even if he will incline the Kremlin to decisions that are unpopular among the population of the aggressor country.
• The authors of NBC News also assumed that Hui is also an acceptable option for Ukraine — among his statements were not only pro-Russian, but also pro-Ukrainian. However, the article cites only one quote by Huey from a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation in 2005. At that time, the government of Ukraine was pro-Western, and despite this, Hui convinced that China supports the prosperity of Ukraine in every possible way. However, this happened long before Hui began working as an ambassador in Moscow.