China has waded into the Russia-Ukraine war saying it will like to mediate a peace deal between the two warring nations.
China’s foreign minister on Thursday, March 16, urged Kyiv and Moscow to restart peace talks “as soon as possible,” saying Beijing fears the conflict “could escalate and get out of control.”
In a statement Beijing said it “hopes that all parties will keep calm, exercise restraint, resume peace talks as soon as possible and return to the track of political settlement,” Foreign Minister Qin Gang told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, adding that “China hopes that Ukraine and Russia retain hope for dialogue and negotiation.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that during his call with China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang earlier in the day, they discussed the “significance of the principle of territorial integrity”.
Beijing again mentioned the idea of the so-called peace plan it floated last month as the foreign minister urged Kyiv and Moscow to restart peace talks “as soon as possible”.
China has been criticized by Western countries for failing to condemn Moscow’s invasion of its European neighbour, and last month strongly denied US claims that it was mulling arms shipments to support Russia’s war.
Beijing recently said that it hopes to play a constructive role in resolving the geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine and came up with the peace plan in the form of a 12-point foreign ministry paper for a gradual de-escalation between the warring nations.