China seeks to mediate in Ukraine's negotiations with Russia – international relations expert

Natalia Plaksiyenko-Butyrska, an expert on East Asia, Master of Foreign Policy, shared her opinions with Espreso TV.

“On the one hand, China is working to defend Russia's position, and on the other hand, to offer its own peace proposals as a unifying formula. This is being done in order to offer a form of negotiations in the future, alternatively or in some other way, that will be accepted by Russia and supported by like-minded countries. Obviously, they do not think much about Ukraine. Perhaps they are still working on a possibility that would give them a chance to be an intermediary country, on the basis of whose peace proposals the future negotiation process will be based,” she said.

China is trying to dilute to some extent Ukraine’s efforts, which is trying to organize a peace summit in Switzerland, says Plaksiyenko-Butyrska.

“Behind the scenes, we can observe the fact that China is trying to communicate with other countries, in particular the Global South and those who are part of the BRICS platform, that Russia should be present at the Peace Summit. As a result, we see a statement by an adviser to the Brazilian president who visited Beijing on May 23 that he supports China's position on Russia's participation in the summit. We have information that the Brazilian president will not be represented at the peace summit. So, from my point of view, China is working to defend Russia's position,” she summarized.

• China and Brazil have outlined a common position on a political settlement of the “crisis in Ukraine” and support the holding of a peace summit with equal participation of all parties.