BEIJING, July 25. /TASS/. The Kiev regime is increasingly recognizing the importance of China’s role in facilitating negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian conflict, Zhang Hong, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences stated.

"The fact that [Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry] Kuleba is coming to China for talks demonstrates Ukraine's growing recognition of China's role in fostering peace negotiations," the Global Times newspaper quoted him as saying. As the expert emphasized, this role "has always been promoting peace talks." He noted that China has consistently advocated this method of settling, but in the past, Ukraine, "bolstered by Western support, showed little interest in such efforts and preferred military aid [from Western countries]."

"However, with recent US political shake-up (this refers to an assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and refusal of incumbent American president Joe Biden to further participate in the electoral race - TASS), China's role in promoting peace talks has become uniquely significant," Zhang Hong stressed, "additionally, the West lacks influence over Russia, while Ukraine believes that China has a unique role in encouraging negotiations."

The expert recalled that China acted as a mediator at the talks to restore diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran and provided the venue for reconciliation to Palestinian factions. According to Zhang Hong, it indicates that "China's inclusive and comprehensive security concepts are being accepted by an increasing number of nations."

Kuleba is on a visit in China on July 23-26. The purpose of the trip is to discuss bilateral cooperation and the questions concerning the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. In February 2023, Beijing presented its plan to overcome the crisis situation, key points of which were the resumption of peace talks and armistice.