Ukraine war: China calls for all parties to ‘create conditions for peace talks’
- Foreign Minister Qin Gang tells Russian counterpart that Beijing is ready to play a constructive role in restarting negotiations
- Sergey Lavrov calls the meeting ‘timely’ and says relations between the two countries have shown ‘a robust resilience’
“There is no panacea to resolve the Ukraine crisis and all parties should build mutual trust and create conditions for peace talks,” Qin told Sergey Lavrov, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
“China is ready to work with the Russian side to promote high-level … bilateral relations, with the core task being to implement the consensus of the two heads of state [reached in March],” Qin said during the meeting on the sidelines of a conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
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Xi and Putin deepen China-Russia partnership in Moscow talks, but no Ukraine peace deal details
The Samarkand meeting came ahead of a four-day visit to Russia by Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu. China’s defence ministry on Friday said Li would travel to Russia on Sunday and hold talks with Russian military officials as well as visit military academies during the trip.
Qin has previously said China was “an advocate for a political solution to the crisis and a promoter of peace talks”. China has never condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
