Why China's special enjoy is on European tour and how Ukraine should communicate with him

Li Hui, the Chinese government's special envoy for Eurasia, embanks on another tour to Ukraine, Russia, and several European countries: Belgium, Poland, Germany and France.

The Chinese top diplomat has visited Moscow, where he reiterated Beijing's familiar theses at a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin.

He added a proposal that China had previously avoided in his new statement – readiness to "mediate and achieve consensus between Russia, Ukraine, and other interested parties."

This may indicate a new development in China's position, as noted by Yurii Poita, a fellow researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Research, in his column – China checks on West's readiness for action: What lies behind Li Hui's visit to Ukraine.

Li Hui's last year visits to Russia, Ukraine and European countries as part of China's shuttle diplomacy did not result into anything fruitful.

Two years of full-scale war demonstrate that China generally does not change its position, the author points out.

According to him, China does not criticise Russia for its invasion, fully blames "NATO expansion" for the "Ukrainian crisis," opposes unilateral sanctions against Russia, calls for seizing arms supplies to Ukraine, insists that "Russia's rational security concerns" should be taken into account.

The expert also reminds us, that China rhetorically advocates respect for the territorial integrity of "all countries" and adherence to "nuclear security," which, in fact, are declarative statements without any implementation attempts.

Moreover, repeated efforts by the Ukrainian side to involve China in the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian war have failed.

The researcher at the Taiwan Institute notes that Beijing continues to view the war as a conflict between Russia and the West and significantly reduced contacts with Kyiv throughout 2023.

Given this fact, China's position on some issues has even worsened for Ukraine, according to Yurii Poita.

Why then did China start talking about mediation, previously avoided?

The author writes that a series of discussions by their analytical center with high-ranking Chinese experts affiliated with the government showed: China believes that Ukraine's situation and Western support have significant issues, while Russia, on the contrary, has coped with challenges.

"So, in China's view, it is highly likely that so-called 'peaceful negotiations' and the potential readiness of Kyiv and the West to compromise will happen," writes Yurii Poita.

The researcher believes that Kyiv's position should be as follows.

Firstly, Ukraine is ready for dialogue with all interested parties regarding the settlement of the war only by international law norms and with the condition of restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Secondly, Ukraine maintains a high combat spirit and readiness to continue the armed defence of its state.

Thirdly, Ukraine, NATO and EU partners maintain unity to achieve a "just peace" and a stable security architecture.

Fourthly, actions by responsible members of the international community (as China positions itself) to assist Russia are unacceptable and threaten the security and stability of the world.

Finally, Ukraine is grateful to China for not providing ready-made samples of weapons to Russia, but Kyiv has numerous evidence of sending components by Chinese companies used by Russia for weapon manufacture.

"We observe signs now that China is trying to improve relations with Europe, which means its interest in demonstrating constructiveness," the expert concludes.