The cunning "peace plan" of China. Why Russia was happy about China's proposals and what Putin needs
US President Assistant Jake Sullivan stated that China could be limited to one point of his peace plan (from 12), that is, respect for sovereignty. "Ukraine did not attack Russia, NATO did not attack Russia, the United States did not attack Russia. Putin began this war," said Jake Sullivan.
The head of the European Commission of Ursula von Der Lyen also said quite sharply, who noted that "boundless friendship" of China with Russia calls doubt on the seriousness of Chinese proposals, Vitaliy Portnikov writes for Radio Svoboda. And President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky at his press conference dedicated to the anniversary of the beginning of the Great War, said that the document published in Beijing is not like a peace plan, but resembles a demonstration of reflections.
And this despite the fact that Zelensky still counts on the possibility of negotiation with the head of the PRC. And why is the Chinese peace plan not a starting point for negotiations? And because this plan is equalized by the aggressor and the victim. In Beijing, they do not even try to evaluate Russia's actions in the Ukrainian territory and explain how the negotiation process can lead to the termination of the war and the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity.
The plan has points that can help not in the termination but in the continuation of the war. This is first and foremost the idea of the need to abolish so -called "unilateral sanctions". The PRC believes that sanctions can only be imposed by the decision of the UN Council. But this proposal makes permanent members of the Radbeza, including Russia and China itself, in fact, unreasonable and invulnerable to any economic influence.
And here is a very simple question: if you imagine that this Chinese proposal will agree and all sanctions against Russia will be abolished, or does this mean that the war will be stopped? No, most likely, it will continue with new force. Another important proposal to China is not a proposal for peace, but for a truce, a ceasefire without prior conditions, also more in the interests of Russia than Ukraine. After all, these are Russian troops on Ukrainian land, not Ukrainian in Russian.
The ceasefire without prior conditions gives Russia an obvious opportunity to fix its territorial "heritage", to strengthen the lines of defense, to prepare for new mobilization and equipment of troops with equipment. A truce is not peace, but the possibility of continuing the war in the near future. Does this mean that there is nothing in Chinese offers to look at? Of course, as in any document, Chinese offers should be looking for what Beijing is really interested in.
I have already mentioned the desire to create guarantees that make it impossible. But no less important point is the call for non -use of nuclear weapons and ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants. If this position is sincere, then it is probably the point that China, West and Ukraine can bring. Yes, this is not a position that can help achieve the end of the war.
But perhaps it is a position that will help to avoid the beginning of nuclear war - if, of course, Vladimir Putin is ready to listen to Xi Jinping in this matter. Now the most important question is how politically politically in China intends to use their "peace plan".
The Chinese Foreign Minister Wanbin Prescribe stated after the document was published that China, which is "on the right side of history" is ready to "work with the rest of the world and make a contribution to the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
" But what happens when in Ukraine and in the West do not consider it necessary to agree with the main points of the Chinese plan? Will this not help China's leadership to say that the desire for peace is in Russia, where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova has already supported the Chinese plan, not in Ukraine and in the West, and thus substantiate the economic and even military support of Moscow? Copyright © 2021 RFE/RL, Inc.