SHANGHAI, April 28. /TASS/. The recent phone call between President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine has opened up new opportunities for the promotion of peace talks, Sun Qi, executive director of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies, told TASS on Friday.
"After the one-on-one conversation between the heads of China and Ukraine, a new atmosphere has been fostered in terms of the Ukrainian crisis, which could make it feasible to promote peace talks," he said. However, regardless of whether this atmosphere persists or whether any talks on facilitating peace can produce significant results, in practical terms they [any potential talks] would stumble up against major uncertainty, the expert cautioned.
According to him, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis has lasted for over a year and there are no signs that the situation is improving. Sun noted that "support from the outside world" was the main reason. "There are countries that are simply watching the fire from the other side, but staying away from it. There are also nations that are fanning the flames and adding fuel to the fire. Even more countries are seizing the opportunity to make money off of the war, while some in the US are openly calling for ‘fighting at all costs to the last Ukrainian,’" the expert lamented.
"Of course, the international community, particularly all parties to the crisis, should try to meet each other halfway. The countries that are stirring the pot and seeking to take advantage of the situation to earn profits should change their approach. Otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve a breakthrough in advancing peace talks," the analyst concluded.
On April 26, Xi held his first telephone conversation with Zelensky since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. The Chinese leader reiterated Beijing's willingness to help establish a negotiation process to end the conflict. Xi also announced plans to send the Chinese government's special envoy for Eurasian affairs "to Ukraine and other countries" to "thoroughly discuss a political settlement to the Ukrainian crisis with all of the interested parties." According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, former Ambassador to Russia Li Hui will lead the country’s delegation, but no timeframe for his possible trip has been determined yet.