BEIJING: China’s foreign minister has told his G20 counterparts that a “window for peace” is opening for the Ukraine crisis, days after top US and Russian diplomats met in Saudi Arabia.
“China has noted that calls for peace talks have been rising recently, and a window for peace is opening,” Wang Yi said on Thursday (Feb 20), according to a readout of his speech at the G20 meeting in South Africa published by Beijing’s foreign ministry.
At talks in Riyadh on Tuesday, Russia and the United States agreed to establish teams to negotiate a path to ending the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
China supports all efforts to achieve peace, including this “recent consensus” reached between the United States and Russia, Wang said.
“We hope that all parties involved can find a sustainable and lasting solution that addresses each other’s concerns,” he added.
US President Donald Trump is pushing for a swift resolution to the three-year conflict in Ukraine, while Russia sees his outreach as a chance to win concessions.
The Riyadh meeting marks a major diplomatic coup for Moscow, which had been isolated for three years under the previous US administration of president Joe Biden.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed his nation’s exclusion from the Riyadh gathering, which lasted more than four hours.
Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has sought to portray itself as a neutral party in the conflict.
Western nations including the United States have backed Ukraine and criticised China’s refusal to condemn Russia.
