Chinese leader Xi Jinping had a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday and discussed bilateral cooperation and Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The phone call coincided with the third anniversary of Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
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“Putin briefed on the latest developments in Russia-US contacts and Russia’s principled position on the Ukrainian crisis, and said Russia is committed to eliminating the root causes of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and reaching a sustainable and long-term peace plan,” an official Chinese press release says, describing Moscow’s invasion as the “Ukrainian crisis.”
During Monday’s UN General Assembly, Russia attempted to request an amendment to a UN draft resolution by adding a clause to address the so-called “root cause” of the invasion that was ultimately rejected.
Regarding the invasion, Beijing was “pleased to see that Russia and relevant parties have made positive efforts to resolve the crisis” – a reference to the recent talks between Washington and Moscow that excluded Ukraine, the press release says.
Regarding the US-Russia talks, the press release says Putin hinted that the talks would not affect the “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership” between Beijing and Moscow.
“Developing relations with China is a strategic choice made by Russia with a long-term perspective, not a stopgap measure, and is not affected by a single moment or external factors,” the press release states.
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“Under the current situation, maintaining close communication between Russia and China is in line with the spirit of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries in the new era, and will also send a positive signal that Russia and China play a stabilizing role in international affairs,” it added.
China also boasted of its “Friends of Peace” platform that, alongside the Global South, sought to position itself as an alternative peace format to end the war in Ukraine during Xi’s call with Putin.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reportedly promoted the “Friends of Peace” platform during a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiha on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
On Feb. 20, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he was set to meet Wang in Moscow. The date of the planned meeting is not announced.
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