In a bid to negotiate multilateral peace talks, Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to sit down in the near future with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Along with urging for peace, the meeting will address concerns over nuclear weapons, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal. Putin recently suspended Russia’s nuclear arms treaty with the U.S.
Wang Yi, a Chinese senior diplomat and the director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, announced these intentions during the Munich Security Conference held last week.
As The Dallas Express recently reported, Wang and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken exchanged some heated words during this conference over mutual allegations of spy balloons breaching sovereign airspace.
Blinken has also raised doubts about Beijing’s intentions in the diplomatic mission to Moscow.
As the BBC reported, Blinken said that Chinese firms are already delivering “non-lethal support” to Russia. He argued that evidence is growing that “lethal support” is making its way into the conflict too.
China rebuffed the accusation at a press conference on February 20. As the BBC reported, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that Beijing does “not accept the United States’ finger-pointing on China-Russia relations, let alone coercion and pressure.”
Wang Yi arrived in Moscow himself on Tuesday, marking the first diplomatic meeting between the two countries since fighting in Ukraine began.
“China would like to take the opportunity of this visit to work with Russia to promote the steady growth of the bilateral relations in the direction identified by our presidents, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of both sides, and play a positive role for world peace,” said Wenbin of the meeting, according to Fox News.
While Beijing has provided diplomatic backing and economic assistance to Moscow during the war, it has resisted taking a side in the conflict, at least publicly.
News of Xi’s upcoming visit to Moscow comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and the U.S.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice Preside Kamala Harris claimed that Russia is guilty of numerous atrocities during the Ukraine conflict.
“Russian forces have pursued a widespread and systemic attack against a civilian population,” Harris alleged. “Gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape and deportation. Executions, killings, beatings and electrocution. Russian authorities have forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of people from Ukraine to Russia, including children.”
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron — who recently met with Wang Yi, per the WSJ — is hopeful China can play a constructive role in mediating the conflict, given its influence in Moscow.
Yun Sun, director of the Stimson Center’s China program, told the WSJ, however, that she is not confident Beijing is prepared to take the necessary steps to mediate the conflict.
“China will have to be able to not only call for peace, but also present a vision as for what a settlement of the war looks like. … Calling for peace is cheap and easy. But what is China willing to do to make it happen?” she asked, per the WSJ.
