“On the Ukraine crisis, China always believes that an early ceasefire and a political settlement serves the common interests of all parties,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
“China will continue to stand on the side of peace and dialogue,” she said.
China has sought to paint itself as a mediator in the war, sending envoy Li Hui to Europe on multiple rounds of “shuttle diplomacy”.
President Xi Jinping told Hungary’s Viktor Orban this month that world powers should help Russia and Ukraine restart direct negotiations. Orban’s visit to Beijing was branded as a “peace mission”.
China also released a paper last year calling for a “political settlement” to the conflict. However, it was criticised by Western countries for enabling Russia to retain much of the territory it has seized in Ukraine.
Beijing has rebuffed claims it is supporting Russia’s war effort, insisting last week that its position was “open and above board” and accusing the West of fuelling the conflict through arms shipments to Kyiv.
Beijing, a close political and economic ally of Russia, did not attend a peace summit in Switzerland last month in protest against Moscow not being invited.
“EXACT A PRICE”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called during that summit for Beijing to engage seriously with developing peace proposals.
Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told AFP that Kyiv could likely seek this week to “convince China that it should participate in a second peace summit”.
“Beijing can try to extract a price, even for sending somebody like Special Envoy Ambassador Li Hui,” he said.
China has offered a critical lifeline to Russia’s isolated economy since the conflict began.
That economic partnership has come under close scrutiny from the West in recent months, with Washington vowing to go after financial institutions that facilitate Moscow’s war effort.
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