China says unlikely to attend Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland

At a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said: "The arrangement of the conference has not yet met China's requirements and the general expectations of the international community, making it difficult for China to participate."

"China has always stressed that an international peace conference must be approved by both Russia and Ukraine with equal participation of all parties, and any peace proposal must be discussed in a fair and equal manner. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the conference to play an important role in restoring peace."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning. Photo: Reuters

Switzerland is seeking broad participation from countries around the world for a summit in mid-June that it hopes will lay the groundwork for a peace process in Ukraine. Russia has dismissed the talks as pointless without its participation.

China told some diplomats this week that it had declined the invitation because its conditions had not been met, four sources said earlier.

These conditions require that the conference be recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, that all parties participate equally, and that there be a fair discussion of all proposals.

On May 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that China could arrange a peace conference involving Russia and Ukraine.

During a visit to China this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support for China's plan to resolve the crisis peacefully, saying Beijing fully understood the reasons behind the crisis.

More than a year ago, Beijing put forward a 12-point peace proposal to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but it did not go into specifics. More recently, last week, China and Brazil signed a joint statement calling for Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

In January, Ukraine invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to a planned summit of world leaders in Switzerland. This week, Mr. Zelenskyy also called on US President Joe Biden to attend, but Washington has not confirmed it.

Ngoc Anh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/trung-quoc-cho-biet-kho-tham-du-hoi-nghi-hoa-binh-ukraine-o-thuy-si-post297615.html