China sets out its stance on Ukraine crisis

The paper released by China on Friday setting out its position on the Ukraine crisis incorporates the reasonable concerns of various countries and aims at maximizing common ground in the global community on the issue, observers said.

"China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis" sets out 12 detailed steps to handle the issue.

Efforts are urged to respect all countries' sovereignty, abandon the Cold War mentality, cease hostilities, resume peace talks, resolve the humanitarian crisis, and protect civilians and prisoners of war.

Nations should keep nuclear power plants safe, facilitate grain exports, stop unilateral sanctions, keep industrial and supply chains stable and promote post-conflict reconstruction, the paper said.

"Equal and uniform application of international law should be promoted, while double standards must be rejected," it said.

Beijing is willing to base its efforts on the document and "continue making contributions alongside the international community for the political settlement" of the crisis, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday.

Su Xiaohui, an associate research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, said the paper issued on Friday "constitutes a holistic, systemic solution that builds a comprehensive architecture for ensuring security".

"By issuing the paper, Beijing pursues both peace talks and the settlement of underlying fundamental security issues. It also eyes helping to tackle potential new problems and avoiding another major crisis," she said.

In addition to facilitating peace talks, the release of the document also serves as a response to recent verbal attacks from countries such as the United States which attempted to smear or demonize China's contribution to resolving the crisis, she added.

Wu Xinbo, dean of Fudan University's Institute of International Studies, said the paper is a summary of China's official position regarding the Ukraine crisis, which is "the largest military conflict in Europe since the end of the Cold War and has a direct impact on the security situation in Europe".

"On regional hotspot issues, China has played a positive, constructive role as it has consistently rejected the behavior of imposing unilateral sanctions and confrontation, while promoting peace talks and dialogue," he said.

Wu noted that in terms of global security, China has proposed progressive and reasonable ideas, as it put forward the Global Security Initiative in April last year and issued the GSI Concept Paper on Tuesday.

Wu called for the early ending of the crisis, as global governance requires cooperation among major countries.

"The Ukraine crisis has scaled up geopolitical tensions and decreased political mutual trust among major countries, which in turn has weakened their cooperation in global governance," he said.

Friday marks the anniversary of the major escalation of the Ukraine crisis.

At the beginning of the crisis, Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of talks and made progress before these talks were stalled, Chinese officials said.

Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told a UN General Assembly Emergency Special Session on Ukraine on Thursday that "the reason behind this warrants deep reflection".

China support Russia and Ukraine in "moving toward each other, resuming direct dialogue as soon as possible, bringing their legitimate concerns to the negotiations, setting out feasible options, and giving a chance to an early end of the crisis and the rebuilding of peace," he said.

Cui Hongjian, director of the China Institute of International Studies' European studies department, said China's consistent position is preventing confrontation, controlling and managing confrontation and striving for collaboration, which "lives up to the expectations of the vast majority of countries in the world".

Analysts said that China's objective and fair position on the Ukraine crisis could be reflected by the recently concluded Eurasian tour made by senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi.

Wang, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, met with leaders and foreign ministers from more than 10 countries, including Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in Munich, Germany. He also exchanged views with Russian leaders and senior officials in Moscow.

Despite differences and even conflict among the positions of various parties, they all accept the idea that the dispute should be resolved ultimately through dialogue and negotiations, and "they all endorsed China's upholding of an objective position and a cool head", Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, told reporters after concluding his visit.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn