China\u2019s top diplomat Wang Yi has had a busy week in which two devastating conflicts have loomed large. <\/p>\n
Wang started by gathering 14 Palestinian factions for reconciliation talks in Beijing, including bitter rivals Hamas and Fatah, before meeting on Wednesday with Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba \u2013 the first time China has hosted a top Ukrainian official since Russia\u2019s invasion nearly two and half years ago. <\/p>\n
The juxtaposed diplomacy \u2013 where talks were closely linked to the grinding wars in Gaza and Ukraine, respectively \u2013 came as Beijing vies to present itself as a geopolitical heavyweight in a world increasingly divided by both conflicts. <\/p>\n
In a meeting with Kuleba, Wang said Beijing \u201csupported all efforts that contribute to peace\u201d \u2013 marking China\u2019s latest effort to position itself as a \u201cneutral\u201d peace broker in the conflict, even as it has ratcheted up ties with Russia. <\/p>\n
And at the conclusion of talks between the Palestinian factions a day earlier, the foreign minister hailed the signing of a declaration on \u201cending division.\u201d The agreement, viewed with a measure of skepticism in the Middle East where such deals have quickly collapsed before, was a \u201chistorical moment in the Palestinian liberation cause,\u201d Wang said. <\/p>\n
For the Chinese government, experts say, Wang\u2019s week of diplomacy offered a chance to play up desired optics: framing the country as a productive player in intractable conflicts \u2013 and an alternative broker to the United States. <\/p>\n
China\u2019s ambition is to be \u201crecognized and accepted as a \u2013 if not the \u2013 global leader, and it seeks to do so by enlisting the support of the Global South, which is more numerous in both population and country terms than the democratic West,\u201d said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. <\/p>\n
But it also signals some of the limits within which Beijing is operating, experts suggest, as it seeks to build a solution in Gaza without having deep influence in the region and calls for peace in Ukraine while keeping tight ties with Russia. <\/p>\n
Kuleba\u2019s visit was the first time in the nearly 29 months of Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine that a high-level Ukrainian official has visited China. In contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited twice and Kremlin officials have made numerous trips during the same period. <\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders have previously expressed hope that China could use its close relationship with Russia to push for peace on terms acceptable to Kyiv, which unequivocally calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops and a return to its internationally recognized borders. But Chinese officials have given no public indication of doing so and have instead pushed for any peace efforts to consider \u201call countries\u2019\u201d security concerns. <\/p>\n
Kuleba\u2019s visit comes as Beijing is under increasing pressure from the West over its ties to Russia and allegations it\u2019s aiding Moscow\u2019s war effort by providing dual-use goods. Beijing denies this and says the West is fueling the conflict by supplying arms for Ukraine\u2019s defense. <\/p>\n
Western rhetoric is also hardening. NATO leaders earlier this month said Beijing was \u201cdecisively\u201d enabling Russia\u2019s war by support for its defense industrial base, and Zelensky last month accused China of prolonging \u2013 through its \u201csupport to Russia\u201d \u2013 the war devastating his country. <\/p>\n
That may be a topic of conversation later this week when Wang is expected to speak with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in another engagement during a regional meeting in Laos. <\/p>\n
Kuleba arrived in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Tuesday saying that there would be \u201cextensive, detailed, substantive\u201d negotiations focused on \u201cone issue – peace in Ukraine.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will talk, we will be looking for common ground. We need to avoid competition between peace plans,\u201d he said in a social media video post, in an apparent reference to the vast distance between Beijing\u2019s proposed \u201cpolitical settlement\u201d for the war and Ukraine\u2019s own peace formula. <\/p>\n
Official statements from Beijing and Kyiv after Wednesday\u2019s Wang-Kuleba talks gave no indication that the Ukrainian diplomat had swayed Beijing toward Kyiv\u2019s vision for peace. <\/p>\n
Instead, Wang re-emphasized Beijing\u2019s past statements and its call for a \u201cpolitical settlement.\u201d China last year released its view on such a settlement, which backs a ceasefire without stipulating the prior withdrawal of Russian troops, a position criticized as favorable to Moscow\u2019s illegal territorial gains. Neither side mentioned the provision of material or economic support to Russia in official statements. <\/p>\n
Wang did appear to leave a door open for Ukraine to rely on China as a broker, saying, according to Beijing\u2019s Foreign Ministry, that \u201calthough the conditions and timing are not yet ready,\u201d China was \u201cwilling to continue to play a constructive role in ceasefire and resumption of peace talks.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kuleba, for his part, reiterated the country\u2019s position of being ready for peace talks \u201cwhen Russia is ready to negotiate in good faith,\u201d according to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, but highlighted that Kyiv sees no such readiness from Moscow. <\/p>\n
Observers say Beijing could, at some point, play a role in any potential future talks, but is unlikely to shift its relationship with Russia. <\/p>\n
Xi is widely seen to view China\u2019s northern neighbor as a critical partner in pushing back against a world order he sees as unfairly dominated by the West \u2013 and does not want Russia to suffer a damaging defeat. <\/p>\n
Chinese leaders may have decided to meet Kuleba now to show they\u2019re trying to \u201cpush for peace\u201d amid Western criticism of Beijing\u2019s Russia ties and because of the impending election in the United States, according to Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore. <\/p>\n
Kyiv is casting a wary eye on those elections that could see a plunge in American support for Ukraine\u2019s defense if Republican candidate Donald Trump wins. Trump\u2019s running mate JD Vance has openly advocated for ending military aid to Ukraine in favor of bolstering Taiwan\u2019s defenses. <\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps Beijing is reading this and feels that they are in a better position to push Kyiv towards a compromise that Moscow might find more amenable,\u201d Chong said.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s state-linked news outlet Global Times also highlighted expert commentary suggesting Ukraine may realize that \u201cefforts to completely isolate\u201d Russia internationally have failed, as players like India and Brazil \u2013 both key Global South nations \u2013 have not supported a communique following a Ukraine-backed peace summit in June, which did not include Russia. Beijing has said such conferences should include both Kyiv and Moscow. <\/p>\n
Beijing\u2019s efforts to be a platform for Palestinian reconciliation, meanwhile, come as it has presented itself as a leader for voices across the Global South in calling for Palestinian statehood and decrying Israel\u2019s war and its staggering humanitarian cost, while criticizing US backing of Israel. <\/p>\n
Wang said that Tuesday\u2019s reconciliation talks between Palestinian factions ended with an agreement \u201con post-Gaza war governance and the establishment of a provisional national reconciliation government.\u201d <\/p>\n
The announcement comes as the future governance of Palestinian territories remains in question following Israel\u2019s repeated vow to eradicate Hamas \u2013 and a growing push for Palestinian statehood. But it was met with some skepticism from observers in the region given the failure of past attempts at unity. <\/p>\n
A US State Department spokesperson questioned whether the deal would \u201cin any way have an impact on the ongoing discussions to reach a ceasefire\u201d in the war in Gaza, adding it ran counter to Washington\u2019s position, which is that militant group Hamas should not have a role in the governance of \u201ca unified Gaza and the West Bank\u201d after the war. <\/p>\n
Within the region, there is also a sense that some of Beijing\u2019s broader diplomacy around the conflict may be \u201cmissing out on the intricacies\u201d of different viewpoints there, while seeking to win backing for its own international agenda, according to Jonathan Fulton, a nonresident senior fellow for the Atlantic Council\u2019s Middle East programs. <\/p>\n
\u201cOf course there\u2019s frustration with the West and in particular with the US, but at the same time nobody\u2019s looking at China and saying, \u2018well, this is the country that\u2019s going to come and solve it,\u2019 because they see it as very self-interested actor with a pretty shallow level of regional knowledge and expertise,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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