Xi Jinping speaks to Zelenski (Update: response by Maria Zakharova)

So Xi Jinping spoke to Zelensky. China is kicking its understanding of a peace process into a top objective.

These are the comments from China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying after President Xi’s phone call with Zelensky.

“On the Ukraine crisis, China always stands on the side of peace. Its core stance is to facilitate talks for peace.  China did not create the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to the crisis. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible major country, China would not sit idly by, nor would it add oil to the fire, still less exploit the situation for self gains.  Everything China does is aboveboard. Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way forward. With rational thinking and voices now on the rise, it is important to seize the opportunity and build up favorable conditions for the political settlement of the crisis.  It is hoped that all parties would seriously reflect on the Ukraine crisis and jointly explore ways to bring lasting peace and stability to Europe through dialogue.  China will send the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs to Ukraine and other countries to have in-depth communication with all parties on political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.  China has provided multiple batches of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and will keep providing help to the best of its ability.”

I can see the Russian view explode on all Russian media and channels and that would be something like:  “China should not deprive us of our war, lest we have to fight it again in the future,” and comments such as “The soldiers will be demotivated and this is the path of defeat for Russia.”  Screeds will be written on why it is impossible to talk peace with copious reference to the NATO and NAZI regimes.

My view is somewhat that of Lula.  Someone will have to start talking about peace.  Let me remind you of the Russian view and that is in short:

‘We do not care how the end of this war comes, but we do care that our objectives are fulfilled.’

• China’s timing is excellent.  The Ukrainian fighting forces are about clapped out and they fight on with mercenaries and some elite forces kept in reserve.
• The meat grinder grinds up older and younger Ukrainian men and women.
• The river of weapons given to Ukraine by Western forces is being consumed much faster than it can be replenished.
• Zelenski is losing his luster all over the West as his begging bowl is becoming a problem because the whole of the West cannot keep it from leaking out at the bottom.  These leaks go into the pockets of the Ukrainian elites.
• The trade in Western weapons is brisk.  The risk now and really the fact of all kinds of weapons falling into the hands of groups of militants everywhere is growing.   China is not immune to this risk.

China also viscerally understands the Russian zeitgeist vis a vis the Nazi regime, as they have the same or very similar issues with the Japanese, who now is arming up again without having said one word of regret about their excesses and horrors, imperialism and fascism, during both the First and Second Sino-Japanese War.  The societal bitterness in China is similar to the societal bitterness in Russia toward the Nazis.

China understands the principles of security and indivisible security and has said that Europe has breached those wrt Russia.

The Chinese envoy to the EU made comments that the three Baltic states ( Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) have no clear and consistent legal ground (principle being the UN Charter) for their borders.  This caused outrage but China is correct de jure.  There is much work to be done to regularize borders.  China stepped back a little and said that they recognize these countries as they stand, even though the legal case is weak.  But the 3B’s consider that for the last 50 years during the USSR and after the 2ndWW, they were colonized.

China has a similar problem with NATO, as NATO is creeping closer to China itself.  There is no talking to these people.  They want to be the rulers of the world and the time for that is over.

And this is what China will soon encounter.  There is no honest broker with the necessary power and political will to bring solutions.  There is only the situation on the ground.   Can any agreement be taken seriously after what we learned about the Minsk packages of Measures alone not even the encroachment of NATO on Russian borders?  Of course there is no honest broker.

One overarching issue must be considered, and that is the fact that most of the world is now in a new arms race.  Where Russia wanted space between themselves and the NATO countries so that missiles could not hit Moscow from the Ukrainian borders, that space (100 or 300 or so kilometers) is not truly valid any longer as we have much more powerful missile systems that can hit anything in the world.  We on our planet must make peace, because we will wipe ourselves out if we do not.

Finally, we always think about the threat to Russia and the hegemonic powers want to break them into little controllable pieces, and the concomitant threat to China, because the hegemonic powers want to break them into little controllable pieces.  It is fine to recognize that the SMO in the Ukraine is perhaps a case of making an example of those who try to march on Moscow, but it is not the real new war.  We either have to take on the real new war, or we have to make peace with crusaders that use war for their own purposes.  It is a dilemma.  My emotional request to Russia is: Get it Done!  Because We Need You Russia!  We need you to help build this multipolar world and we need you with your full strength.  We need your peacekeeping forces until border disputes and other hot zones can be brought to peace.  And we need China in the same way.  Let China sow their oats in trying a peace initiative.  I’ve said that this initiative was dead on arrival, but we’ve seen miracles in the Middle East and in West-Asia.  In any event, the hysterical Russians betray their own.  Russia is strong enough to say NO if there is something that does not suit them.  They have complete escalation dominance.

We can go on forever in tracing little or large European returns to sanity and sobriety.  But Europe is lost for now.  We can take France as an example with people out on the streets and France burning from the beginning of the Yellow Vests and the people have not won.  In reality, this new war asks a tremendous amount of Russia and China.  They literally have to save the peoples of Europe as well.  We need governance powers in our world brave enough and willing enough and strong enough to say NO to the hegemon.  We are not there yet although the LAC is showing spunk and willingness.

Yes, I am emotional about this because I see the seeds of the hegemonic dream to split Russia and China’s relationship.  Those seeds are terminator weeds, and we cannot allow them to flourish.  And no, China is not doing this simply because she wants trade to continue.  Of course she wants trade to continue, and Russia wants trade to continue as well.  A world that trades is a world that seeks a peaceful trading environment.

Update: Maria Zakharova’s response:

Response of MFA Spokesperson Maria Zakharova to a media question in connection with a telephone conversation between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President of Ukraine V. Zelensky

❓ Question: There was a telephone conversation between the leaders of China and Ukraine, which, as you know, Kiev has been seeking for a long time. What do you think about it? Is this contact capable of giving a positive impetus to the settlement of the situation in Ukraine?

💬 Answer: We note the readiness of the Chinese side to make efforts to establish the negotiation process. We see a broad consonance of our principled approaches with the provisions of the corresponding position paper published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on February 24.

However, we believe that the problem is not a lack of good plans. So far, the Kiev regime is demonstrating its rejection of any sensible initiatives aimed at a politico-diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, and eventual consent to negotiations is conditioned by ultimatums with obviously unrealistic demands.

The Ukrainian authorities and their Western curators have already demonstrated their ability to roll up peace initiatives . By their own admission, the Minsk agreements were needed only to drag out time and accumulate offensive potential. In the spring of 2022, almost ready-made peace agreements, which the parties reached at the suggestion of Kyiv, were suddenly rejected by him. V.Zelensky even banned by law any negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin.

👉 Thus, any calls for peace can hardly be adequately perceived by puppets controlled from Washington.