China calls for Russia-Ukraine peace talks ‘as soon as possible’ after skipping Swiss summit that shunned Moscow
China has called for direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine “as soon as possible” as it shunned a weekend gathering in Switzerland that aimed to boost international support for Kyiv’s position.
“China calls on the parties to the conflict to demonstrate political will, come together, and start peace talks as soon as possible to achieve a ceasefire and halt military actions,” Geng Shuang, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told the United Nations Security Council on Friday.
He was speaking on the eve of the Summit for Peace for Ukraine at the Swiss resort of Burgenstock, an event to which Russia was not invited, and which 90 countries attended.
Beijing’s absence from the two-day meeting, which was attended by more than 90 countries and focused on rallying support for Ukraine’s peace proposals, has raised questions about China’s self-proclaimed neutrality in the Ukraine war.
Ukraine invited China to the summit in January, but Beijing, which reaffirmed its commitment to the “no limits” partnership with Moscow last month, insisted any peace process would require Russian participation.
Geng’s appeal was largely in line with China’s own peace proposal unveiled a year ago, which was praised by Russia as an alternative to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plan, but largely dismissed by the US and its allies.
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China urged to help end Ukraine war by President Volodymyr Zelensky at Shangri-La Dialogue
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During Friday’s UN briefing on arms supplies to Ukraine, Geng defended China’s “objectivity and impartiality” and accused the US of “spreading the lie that China has supported Russia in its war efforts”.
“This is unacceptable … It is an attempt to divert people’s attention from the conflict and create differences,” he said.
He said China “urges the US to stop using the Ukraine issue as an excuse to smear China and to impose unilateral sanctions and unreasonable suppression on Chinese companies”.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on the sidelines of the summit on Saturday that China’s absence was probably a result of Russian pressure and was in line with Beijing’s “supply of inputs for Russia’s war machine”.
“I presume they are not here because [Vladimir] Putin asked them not to come, and they obliged Putin,” Sullivan told reporters in the Swiss mountaintop resort. “China has asserted that it stands for peace in Ukraine. A good way to have shown that would be to come here.”
According to the Swiss government, more than 90 countries accepted the invitation to the two-day summit, which concludes on Sunday.
Top leaders from 57 countries, ranging from France, Germany and Japan to Argentina, Fiji and Qatar attended the summit, but US President Joe Biden skipped the gathering after the Group of 7 summit on Friday, sending Vice-President Kamala Harris.
India, South Africa, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand also sent delegations, while Brazil attended as an observer.
Zelensky, who secured strong support at the G7, hailed the Swiss event’s attendance rate and said it would be the start of a process to force Russia to end its aggression and secure peace.
“Even if they are not here today at the first summit, we have succeeded in [showing] the world that joint efforts can stop war and establish peace,” he told reporters at the start of the meeting on Saturday.
Earlier this month Zelensky accused China of “working hard” to help Russia pressure smaller countries to skip the event, accusations Beijing denied.
A final communique, supported by the vast majority of the countries that attended the forum, said: “We believe that reaching peace requires the involvement of and dialogue between all parties.” It also called for the “territorial integrity of all states, including Ukraine” to be respected.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer cautioned that “without parts of Asia, Africa and South America, we will not be able to get the Russian Federation to change its mind”.
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Alexander Gabuev, director of the Berlin-based Russia Eurasia Centre of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Beijing did not expect clear results from the event.
“The failure of the Swiss summit that Beijing anticipates may give China a shot to make itself a central player in diplomatic efforts, or at least pretend to be one,” he wrote.
Ryan Hass, a China specialist at the Brookings Institution in Washington, tweeted that Beijing’s view was that the Ukraine conflict was “far from a mutually hurting stalemate and thus isn’t yet ripe for resolution. They don’t view the Swiss as neutral. And they won’t get drawn into a negotiation that Moscow refuses to join”.
