China rejected Ukraineʼs request for a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang.
Politico writes about this, citing sources.
The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, stated the importance of China joining discussions on the Ukrainian peace formula and did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between President Zelenskyi and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang.
But China did not take part in the meeting of national security advisers in Davos, and Li Qiang did not meet with Zelensky. According to Politico, this was a sign that Beijing has no intention of pressuring Russia to end the war.
Sources of the publication among high-ranking US officials claim that China refused the meeting deliberately, rejecting Ukraineʼs request, and the reason was not a "difference in schedules." Thus, one US official claims that Beijing rejected Kyivʼs request for a meeting already during their visits to Switzerland, and another — that China refused any meetings after Russia urged it to stop diplomatic meetings with Ukraine.
At the final conference in Davos, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi explained why there was no meeting with the Chinese delegation.
"There is a prime minister of China — then our prime minister will meet with him. I would be happy to meet the leader of China. Xi Jinping makes decisions in China, and I make decisions in Ukraine. I donʼt need dialogues of any kind, I need important decisions from the leaders who make these decisions," Zelensky emphasized.
- Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, China has never once supported Ukraine. Beijing supported the Russian Federation and condemned the sanctions against it imposed by the West due to its armed aggression. Chinaʼs total trade with Russia reached a record high in 2022 — $190 billion, which is 30% more than a year earlier.
- On February 24, 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China published a "peace plan" for the settlement of the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Beijing calls for negotiations. The plan contains 12 principles, which, according to the authors, should contribute to the end of the Russian Federationʼs war against Ukraine. The word "war" is not mentioned in the document — in the English version of the document, the authors use the words "conflict" and "Ukrainian crisis".