‘Genuine desire’: Putin backs China peace plan to end Ukraine war
Al Jazeera
Isolated Putin is to meet Xi to rally support for war, but cautious China is wary of punitive measures from the West.
President Vladimir Putin has signalled approval of China’s plan as a “genuine desire” to end the war in Ukraine as he travels to Beijing to shore up support from his vital international partner.
In an interview with China’s Xinhua state news agency published on Wednesday ahead of a two-day visit to the country to meet President Xi Jinping, Putin praised Beijing’s approach, saying that it truly understood the conflict’s “root causes” and its “global geopolitical meaning”.
China’s 12-point paper for ending the war received a lukewarm reception when it was made public last year. However, Putin hailed additional measures made public last month as “realistic and constructive steps” that “develop the idea of the necessity to overcome the Cold War mentality”.
Xi’s additional principles, set down in talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, call for a “cooling down” of the situation, conditions for restoring peace and creating stability and minimising the effects on the world economy.
Putin is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Thursday, his first trip abroad since his March re-election and his second in just over six months to China. He will also travel to the northeastern city of Harbin for a trade and investment exposition.
