China's Foreign Ministry said Monday that international talks in Saudi Arabia over the weekend to find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis helped "consolidate international consensus."
More than 40 countries, including China, India, the United States and European countries, but not Russia, participated in the Jeddah talks that ended on Sunday.
China sent its Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs and former ambassador to Russia, Li Hui, who toured six European capitals in May to find common ground for an eventual political solution to the conflict, which enters its 18th month.
Li "had extensive contact and communication with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis... listened to the views and proposals of all parties and further consolidated the international consensus," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. written statement sent to Reuters.
"All parties commented positively on Li Hui's attendance and fully supported China's positive role in facilitating peace talks," the statement said.
China will continue to strengthen the dialogue on the basis of its 12-point peace proposal, and "build up mutual trust," he said, without going into specific details.
China's assistance indicates possible changes in Beijing's approach, but not a drastic shift in its support for Moscow, analysts said.
Beijing has refused to condemn Moscow for the invasion it launched in February 2022. But it has offered its own peace plan, which received a tepid response in both Russia and Ukraine, while the United States and NATO were skeptical.
On Sunday, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said that during the meeting on Saturday "different points of view were expressed" on the key principles of the Ukrainian peace formula, but that there was "a coincidence" regarding "the inviolability of territorial integrity".
For his part, from the Russian government, which was not invited to the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by state media on Sunday as saying that the meeting was "a reflection of the West's attempt to continue with the futile and doomed efforts" to mobilize the Global South behind Zelensky's position.
The two-day meeting in Jeddah was part of a diplomatic push by Ukraine to build support beyond its main Western backers by reaching out to countries in the Global South that have been reluctant to take sides in a conflict that has hit the economy. global.
The Jeddah meeting was held behind closed doors and with the condition of total discretion regarding the content, as was the case with the one previously held in Copenhagen.
This meeting was attended by advisers to heads of government and representatives of foreign ministries, and is expected to pave the way for a leaders' summit that Kyiv aspires to organize this fall around the Zelensky Peace Formula.
Russia this week accused the Western powers of trying to create an anti-Russian coalition during this meeting, which the Russian Foreign Spokesperson, Maria Zajárova, defined as a "deception" and a "staged" of the "Zelensky Formula", which she considers that "has nothing to do with peace".
