Europe

Zelenskiy in southeast Asia to build support for mid-June summit

‘There is no such thing as China pressuring other countries’ - Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman

Volodymyr Zelenskiy signs the guest book beside Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the Malacanang presidential palace. Photograph: Pool Photo via AP

Daniel McLaughlin
Mon Jun 3 2024 - 19:00

China has denied Kyiv’s claim that it is dissuading countries from attending a so-called global peace summit in Switzerland this month, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy continued drumming up support for the event in southeast Asia.

Ukraine says 107 states and organisations have confirmed their participation at the June 15th-16th gathering, to which Russia has not been invited. Kyiv hopes to secure broad international backing for its plan to end the war and then present it to Moscow at a follow-up summit.

The Kremlin says talks about the war are pointless without its participation, and China has declined to take part because it says any such summit should be supported and attended by representatives of Moscow and Kyiv and should discuss all existing peace plans. Beijing has presented its own, very broad peace proposals which do not specifically call for withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

At a security conference in Singapore, Mr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that China was “working to prevent countries from coming to the peace summit” and that Russia was using China and its diplomats as “a tool” to undermine the event.

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“China’s position on the peace conference is fair and just ... Hegemonism and power politics are not China’s diplomatic style. There is no such thing as China pressuring other countries,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Monday.

“China believes that all efforts that are conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis should be supported ... China’s decision on participation is purely based on our assessment of the meeting itself,” she added

“China sincerely hopes that a peace conference will not turn into a platform used to create bloc confrontation. Not attending it does not mean not supporting peace. For certain countries, even if they do participate, they do not necessarily wholeheartedly want the conflict to stop ... China has never sat idly by or fuelled the flames, still less profiteered from the conflict.”

Beijing rejects western allegations that it is supporting the Kremlin’s war machine by allowing Chinese firms to sell Russia huge amounts of dual-use equipment – items, including electronics, that can have both civilian and military functions. While claiming to be neutral in the war, China has also strengthened what it calls its “no limits” relationship with Moscow.

After raising support for the Swiss peace summit in Singapore, Mr Zelenskiy flew to the Philippines and met its president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“I’m happy to hear today from you that you’ll participate in our peace steps,” he said after the talks. “It’s a very strong signal.”

Mr Marcos said: “We have ourselves been trying to promote the continuing adherence to international law in our part of the world ... The issues that you are facing are similar and in parallel to ours and, therefore, the position the Philippines takes is always to promote peace.”

Ukrainian officials said a 12-year-old boy was one of two people killed in a Russian air strike on the eastern province of Donetsk on Monday, and one person was killed in a rocket attack on neighbouring Kharkiv region.

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin is a contributor to The Irish Times from central and eastern Europe

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