China’s President Xi Jinping looked to bolster his image as a global peacemaker with his first call to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy since Russia’s invasion more than a year ago.
The two countries’ readouts of the call on Wednesday struck familiar themes and suggested there had been no major breakthroughs. Xi said negotiations are "the only viable way out of the Ukraine crisis,” according to the Xinhua News Agency. While Zelenskyy’s office called it "a productive hourlong conversation,” he said there could be no peace unless Russia gives back the land it took at the start of the invasion and leaves Crimea, which it seized in 2014.
But the symbolism of the call was important for Xi, who had ignored Zelenskyy’s requests for a call for months even as he bolstered ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including with a trip to Moscow last month. Xi’s silence toward Zelenskyy had fueled Western allies’ already deep skepticism about his insistence that China was neutral in the conflict and wanted to play a role in resolving it.
"It could be interpreted as a damage control or PR — to convince the world that China is peaceful and distancing itself from Russia,” Justyna Szczudlik, deputy head of research at the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw, said of the call.
Other matters were at play too. Just days ago, China’s ambassador to France seemed to upset Beijing’s carefully balanced rhetoric with comments to a French broadcaster questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet states under international law. That provoked anger from Baltic states and others, and China later removed a transcript of the remarks and said they didn’t represent government policy.
China has also been looking to cast itself as a potential mediator in conflicts far beyond its shores, in a move that U.S. officials have taken as a challenge to American influence and a play for more sway among nations where U.S. mediation has stalled out. In March, shortly after Xi unveiled a vague blueprint for peace in Ukraine and met with Putin in Moscow, his government helped broker a deal for Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties.
The call may also fit into plans by Xi to curry favor with leaders such as France’s President Emmanuel Macron, who visited China this month and sparked a furor with comments suggesting France should distance itself from Taiwan.
An Elysee official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said France encourages dialogue, an idea that Macron conveyed to Xi. Xi told Macron at the time he would talk to Zelenskyy, the official said.
That makes the Xi-Zelenskyy call a win for European leaders like Macron "who favor closer diplomatic and economic engagement with China,” Neil Thomas, a Chinese politics fellow at the Asia Society, said in an email. "They can now argue that their approach to China-Russia relations is working better than the cold shoulder given by the United States.”
A European Union official said it was good the call finally took place and that communications channels are open. The official, who discussed the call on condition of anonymity, said the EU looked forward to more details on China’s intention to send a special envoy to Ukraine.
But U.S. officials responded warily to the Xi-Zelenskyy call, and it did nothing to alleviate their belief that Xi’s peace plan is a nonstarter.
"We believe it’s important for President Xi and PRC officials to avail themselves of the Ukrainian perspective on this illegal, unprovoked invasion by Russia,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, referring to the People’s Republic of China. "Whether that’s going to lead to some sort of meaningful peace movement or plan or proposal, I just don’t think we know that right now.”
The likelihood of negotiations anytime soon appear dim, as much for what wasn’t said as what was. The Chinese readout of the call didn’t mention Russia at all, referring to the conflict repeatedly as the "Ukraine crisis.”
China has been committed to promoting peace talks in an impartial manner, Yu Jun, an official at the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a briefing late Wednesday. China will send a delegation to Ukraine and other countries led by Li Hui, who was Beijing’s ambassador to Moscow for 10 years, although there is no timetable yet for the visit, he said.
Separately, Ukraine appointed its former Minister of Strategic Industries Pavlo Riabikin as ambassador to China, according to a decree by the presidential office.
"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,” Zelenskyy said on Twitter. He offered no new opinion on China’s 12-point ceasefire proposal, released earlier this year, which Kyiv has previously rejected as too favorable to Russia.
After 14 months of fighting, Russian forces control large swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine although Kyiv regained control of some areas during an offensive last fall. Ukraine is on the cusp of a counteroffensive, this time armed with German tanks and more heavily armored vehicles from the U.S., in a move that could lead to a new phase of the conflict.
"They were interested in making the phone call, and now it happens, so another box checked,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia-Eurasia Center. "But all of the fundamentals are the same. Ukraine is preparing for counter offensive, Russia is not seeking any conflict resolution, and then the sides are miles apart for what the ultimate resolution might actually look like.”
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