Ukraine wants to convince China to participate in peace summit - Bloomberg
Ukraine wants to persuade China to participate in the global peace summit. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba seeks to discuss this with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, according to Bloomberg.
Ukraine wants the global peace summit to take place in March 2024. However, Bloomberg reports that the date is likely to be shifted to April or May due to issues with the participation of world leaders.
Switzerland wants to host the peace summit. Its diplomats have already contacted counterparts from China and other countries to assess their level of interest. Kuleba also intends to discuss China's participation with his Chinese counterpart, but Wang Yi previously stated that "the conditions are not right for peace talks to end Russia's war on Ukraine."
Additionally, China and several other countries want Russia to participate in the global peace summit, but Ukraine opposes this.
China-Russia relations
China has increasingly supported ties with Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In particular, Beijing refused to join the sanctions imposed by the US against the Kremlin.
Beijing and Moscow share a mutual interest in challenging US dominance in the global order as their relations with democratic countries become increasingly strained.
China's permanent representative to the UN, Zhang Jun, made an anti-Ukrainian statement in the UN Security Council, calling on the US to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine.