Xi Jinping on Wednesday, April 26th, urged Volodymyr Zelensky to hold negotiations with Moscow in his first conversation with the Ukrainian president since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Mr. Zelensky described the call as “long and meaningful” in a post on Twitter, but later stressed that peace could only be agreed on the “1991 borders.” This would see Ukraine take full control of Crimea.
Having expressed a desire to talk directly with the Beijing leader for some time, Mr. Zelensky suggested that it could mark the beginning of new and improved relations. He said: “I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations.”
Mr. Xi took the opportunity to call for peace talks. China’s foreign ministry said its leader stressed that “dialogue and negotiation are the only way forward.” He and Emmanuel Macron said talks must begin “as soon as possible” following the French leader’s state visit to China earlier this month. It was later reported that Mr. Macron has tasked his foreign policy advisor, Emmanuel Bonne, to work with Wang Yi, Beijing’s top diplomat, to establish “a framework that could be used as a basis for future negotiations.” Possible U.S. presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has also called for a ceasefire in Ukraine, to avoid a situation “where you just have mass casualties, mass expense and end up with a stalemate.” Few current world leaders have urged the beginning of talks, though many accept that the war will end at the negotiation table.
Beijing will now send an envoy to Ukraine to help work towards a “political settlement” to the ongoing conflict. A Chinese readout from the call, which lasted for just under an hour, read:
As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a responsible major country, we will neither sit idly by, nor pour oil on fire, still less seek to profit from it … China has provided multiple batches of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and will keep providing help to the best of its ability.
Kyiv’s readout from the call does not, however, directly reference a negotiated settlement. The administration instead “expressed hope for China’s active participation in efforts to restore peace.”
