MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is set to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi shortly after Wang Yi met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, but that doesn’t mean the US will consider China an intermediary for relations with Russia, an analyst told TASS.
Lavrov is meeting with the Chinese foreign minister on September 18, while Wang Yi and Sullivan held talks from September 16-17, discussing Ukraine and Taiwan and agreeing to stay in touch.
"It is not a fact that the conversation between Wang Yi and Sullivan is related to the upcoming meeting with Sergey Lavrov," said the analyst, Vasily Kashin, who is director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at Higher School of Economics. "As to whether the US will consider China as some kind of intermediary for ties with Russia, I think it is very unlikely. There is no doubt that Sullivan and Wang Yi, when they met, discussed issues related to Russia and the Ukrainian crisis, but the Americans will not place any major hopes on China, as they do not want Beijing to get credit for solving such major issues."
According to Kashin, it is more likely that the meeting of the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers will be dedicated to discussing the "One Belt, One Road" international conference, which China is holding in October. Earlier, news reports said the event may be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The thing is that next month, in all likelihood, Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China for the "One Belt - One Road" forum. It will also be a most important bilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia and China, and there are certain expectations for it in terms of agreements. The discussion is more likely to be about that," the analyst said.
China’s peace plan
The analyst noted that in the context of the Ukrainian crisis, Beijing was moving away from the mediatory role, as it promotes its own vision for resolving the situation, despite negative assessments from Washington.
"China has appointed its representative. Beijing is trying to put together some coalition of countries that see a way out of the crisis in concluding a truce and subsequent negotiations," he said.
According to Kashin, Beijing will continue to focus on creating a coalition of countries that support China's peace plan.
"China will continue to promote its point of view and will prioritize putting together a coalition of developing countries that will share China's perspective on a peace plan. At the same time, many fundamental aspects of this plan remain unacceptable to the West and Ukraine," he said.
Last week, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Wang Yi, who is China’s foreign minister and head of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, will hold talks in Moscow on September 18. According to the spokeswoman, they will exchange views on the Ukrainian problem, as well as on the issue of ensuring stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region.