Chinese ambassador Li Hui met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this week, as Beijing kicked off a European tour aimed at brokering peace.
“There is no panacea for the crisis,” Li told the Ukrainian leader, according to a readout published Thursday by China’s Foreign Ministry. Ending the war would require all parties to “build up trust and create conditions for ceasefire and peace talks,” he added.
Li said China would help Ukraine “within its own ability.” The readout did not say how Zelenskiy replied and the Ukrainian side has not acknowledged their meeting.
Earlier, Ukraine confirmed Li had met with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Tuesday and Wednesday, discussing bilateral cooperation and ways to end Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
Kuleba said Ukraine wouldn’t accept proposals that included the loss of territory or a frozen conflict, according to the Ukrainian ministry’s website. That comment appeared to be a direct rebuff of China’s position paper on ending the war, published earlier this year, which proposed a cease-fire that would freeze Russian troops in place on Ukrainian territory.
President Xi Jinping met with Vladimir Putin the month after unveiling that vague blueprint for peace, as Beijing tries to cast itself as a potential mediator in the conflict — a position that has been met with skepticism in the West.
Xi announced that China would send an envoy to Ukraine last month during a call with Zelenskiy. It was the first time the two leaders had spoken since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
Li, who is heading the delegation, is a former ambassador to Moscow. A photo of the Kuleba meeting also featured Ukraine’s newly appointed ambassador to China, Pavlo Riabikin. He will also visit Poland, France and Germany, China’s Foreign Ministry earlier announced.
The special representative of the Chinese government for Eurasian Affairs has also added a visit to Brussels to his trip, according to a Western diplomat in Beijing familiar with Li’s itinerary.
It’s a busy week for Xi on the diplomacy front. The Chinese leader is hosting a major summit in Xi’an from Thursday, when he will seek to deepen Beijing’s influence in Central Asia. The kickoff coincides with the start of the Group of Seven’s meeting in Hiroshima, Japan.
--With assistance from Jenni Marsh.
(Updates with details of Zelenskiy meeting throughout.)
