A high-level Chinese envoy is set to begin a trip that will bring him to Russia, Ukraine, and several other European countries as Beijing hopes to broker a ceasefire to bring an end to the fighting in Ukraine.
Li Hui, China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, will also visit Poland France, and Germany. Li is a fluent Russian speaker and served as an ambassador to Russia for 10 years until 2019.
“Starting from May 15, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs Li Hui will travel to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, and Russia for communication on a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday.
“Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, China has held an objective and just position and actively promoted talks for peace,” the ministry added. Beijing has yet to release the detailed itinerary. A Ukrainian official told Reuters on Monday that Li will be visiting Ukraine on May 16 and 17.
Li’s visit is the result of a phone call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chinese President Xi Jinping that took place on April 26.
Zelensky has expressed an openness to Beijing’s peace push but still maintains negotiations can’t happen until Russia withdraws from all the territory it has captured, which is a non-starter for Moscow. Russia maintains that any future peace deal must include recognition of the Ukrainian oblasts it annexed as Russian territory.
The US has rejected China’s efforts to foster negotiations and came out against a ceasefire in Ukraine back in March ahead of Xi’s trip to Moscow. The White House has cooled the rhetoric, but The New York Times reported Friday that the US officials are “wary of any calls for an immediate ceasefire or peace talks.”
Soon Li Hui is accused of delivering weapons to Russia in his diplomatic bags, only they’re packed full of disappointment. He’ll be as successful as a salesman selling ice to Eskimos. (Sarcasm alert)
Washington-ologists’ rule of thumb for decoding officialese has it always inverse truth. So beware of her “wariness”.
First step in the journey of 10,000 miles needs to be the dismissal of the Cabal for Cremation in DC.
The choice of where he’s going is interesting.
France has traditionally wanted to not be on board fully with Britain’s wishes and Ukraine has become another instance of that desire.
Germany is extremely skittish about remilitarization and it too is leaning towards France’s desire for negotiations.
If they start pushing for talks while being less receptive to continuing arms shipments without end this Summer might be when the talks start.
lets hope peace talks start asap. summer would be good. right now would be better.