• China’s Foreign Ministry called for the resumption of peace negotiations.
• It is emphasised that China opposes the use of nuclear weapons.
• China was primarily prompted to release the position paper.

On the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has reaffirmed its support for a peaceful resolution to the conflict as Beijing comes under increasing criticism from Washington and its allies over its expanding ties with Moscow.

China’s Foreign Ministry called for the resumption of peace negotiations, the removal of unilateral sanctions, and emphasised its opposition to the use of nuclear weapons in a position paper that was just released on Friday.

“No one benefits from conflict or war. To avoid stoking the fires and escalating tensions and stop the crisis from getting worse or possibly spinning out of control, all parties must remain calm and show restraint, the daily stated.

The 12-point plan is a part of Beijing’s most recent attempts to position itself as a neutral peace broker as it juggles its deteriorating relations with the West and its “no-limits” partnership with Moscow as the war grinds on.

China has avoided using the word “invasion” to describe the fight, which seriously undermines its claim to be impartial, and it has supported Moscow diplomatically and economically.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have refuted allegations that they are considering offering Russia deadly military support, which has alarmed Western leaders.

The majority of the position paper is a restatement of China’s current stance, which calls for the resumption of peace negotiations between the two sides. It added that China will play a “positive role,” without providing any other information, and stated that dialogue and discussion are the only practical solutions to the Ukraine situation.

Although though the agreement said that “the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all countries must be successfully preserved,” it failed to acknowledge Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or to refer to it as such.

The newspaper stated that the “Cold War attitude” should be abandoned in a barely covert critique of the US.

“Military bloc expansion or strengthening should not be used to increase regional security. It reportedly echoed Moscow’s stance that the West is to culpable for starting the war by expanding NATO, saying that all nations’ legitimate security interests and concerns must be taken seriously and treated appropriately.

It also seemed to be critical of the extensive economic sanctions put in place against Russia by the US and other Western nations. The statement read: “Unilateral sanctions and intense pressure cannot resolve the issue; they only produce new issues.” In order to contribute to deescalating the Ukraine issue, relevant countries should quit utilising unilateral sanctions and ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ against other nations.

In the article, it is emphasised that China opposes the use of nuclear weapons, a position that Chinese leader Xi Jinping conveyed to Western leaders last year.

Both the use of nuclear weapons and the fighting of nuclear wars must be prohibited. Nuclear weapons should not be threatened or used. It stated that “nuclear crises must be averted and nuclear proliferation must be stopped.

Also, it forbade armed assaults on nuclear power stations or other non-combative institutions.

The US and its allies are concerned about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling throughout the conflict, but authorities have consistently rejected the actions as hollow threats. Nuclear war was seen as a “growing” threat by Putin in December, and Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, warned that losing the fight could “provoke the breakout of a nuclear war” last month.

Difficult act of balancing

In an effort to portray Beijing as a responsible peace negotiator during a diplomatic charm offensive in Europe, top diplomat Wang Yi first discussed China’s position paper last week at a security conference in Munich.

Nevertheless, specialists who have long watched China-Russia relations said they didn’t expect much substance from the report in advance, stressing Beijing’s constrained capacity for manoeuvre.

According to senior fellow Alexander Gabuev of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, China lacks the “pluralistic tools” necessary to negotiate a cease-fire.

He added that Chinese officials “certainly have no say over Kyiv and allies of Kyiv,” adding that China “doesn’t really have a significant effect over decision-making in the Kremlin, they’re clear-eyed about Putin’s preoccupation.”

“In my opinion, European officials are rather perceptive about what China is attempting. They are also somewhat dubious and not buying into this, he continued.

In contrast to the US, which Beijing claims is “adding gasoline to fire,” Beijing’s efforts to portray itself as a peace broker will help the Global South see China as a responsible, major power, Gabuev added.

China was primarily prompted to release the position paper due to pressure from the US and its allies, particularly European nations, according to Li Mingjiang, an expert in international relations at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

It’s improbable that China will be ready to participate in meaningful mediation any time soon. Simply put, it’s very challenging for China to work on this because Beijing needs to be extremely cautious given some of Russia’s concerns, he added.

Li said, referring to the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow and regions of Ukraine occupied by pro-Russian forces since 2014, “When you get into a mediation role, inevitably you have to express some position on some of the very thorny issues like Crimea and the eastern part of Ukraine.”

Such a stance, he continued, might offend Moscow or make it feel like “a betrayal of Russia.”

For the time being, both China and Russia have been anxious to demonstrate the strength of their close ties.

Wang met with Putin on Wednesday during his final stop in Moscow on his European tour.

Putin said that relations between Russia and China are “reaching new milestones” as Wang entered the meeting room and extended his arms in greeting.

“Relations between Russia and China are progressing as anticipated in prior years. As he sat next to Wang, Putin told reporters, “Everything is progressing and changing. “Cooperation in the international arena between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, as we have repeatedly said, is very important for stabilising the international situation.”

Wang said the two countries “often face crisis and chaos, but there are always opportunities in a crisis.”

“This requires us to identify changes more voluntarily and respond to the changes more actively to further strengthen our comprehensive strategic partnership,” Wang said.

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