BANGKOK (AP) 鈥 China called on Tuesday for more countries to endorse its peace plan for Ukraine, after a round of diplomacy with Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa to support its plan.
Envoy Li Hui called the three countries representative of the and 鈥渋mportant forces in promoting world peace" who share similar positions with China. "They have maintained communication with both Russia and Ukraine and stay committed to a political settlement to the crisis through dialogue and negotiation,鈥 said Li, China's special envoy for Eurasian affairs.
China and Brazil issued a joint peace plan earlier this year that calls for a peace conference with both Ukraine and Russia and no expansion of the battlefield. China and Russia were absent from in June. Russia was not invited while China chose not to attend.
Initially, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said China had pressured other countries to not attend the peace summit. But since then, Ukraine has recognized China's role in a peace process, given its close relationship with Russia, with the Ukrainian foreign minister paying a visit to the country in July,
While a diplomatic dialogue between Russia and Ukraine so far appears out of reach, the war has shifted.
In August Ukraine by attacking the Russian oblast of Kursk, in a surprise move that made clear Russia was also vulnerable. the aim was to create a buffer zone to protect Ukraine from attacks.
Li noted the incursion and criticized Western support for Ukraine. 鈥淎ll sides are worried that the West continues to relax conditions for Ukraine to strike the Russian territory with aided weapons,鈥 Li said. 鈥淎nd recent developments on the battlefield confirmed these kind of worries.鈥
The U.S. and NATO have called China an enabler of Russia in the war. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg then said that are 鈥渆nabling Russia to build the missiles, to build the bombs, to build the aircraft, to build the weapons they use to attack Ukraine.鈥
Just last week, the s to cover more Chinese firms that trade with Russia.
