Beijing claims the purpose of the trip is to explore a “political settlement” to the Ukraine problem, and so a top Chinese ambassador has begun a tour of Europe that will take him first to Ukraine and then to Russia. It was announced last week that Li Hui, China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs since 2019 and a former ambassador to Russia, will also visit Poland, France, and Germany “for in-depth communications with different parties for a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis” during his multiday trip. Li, a native Russian speaker, is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
His arrival may coincide with the start of a long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake land Russia has taken. The visit follows on the heels of a historic phone chat between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the end of last month. China’s “core position is to promote peace via talks,” as Xi put it during their hour-long conversation, which Zelenskyy described as “long and meaningful.” Although Beijing’s 12-point plan for peace was viewed with considerable cynicism in Western capitals due to Beijing’s relations with Russia, it was issued on the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. It encouraged “both sides” to give up the “Cold War mentality” and commit to a gradual de-escalation. Less than three weeks after pledging a “no limits” alliance, Beijing has not publicly rebuked Moscow over the incursion. This “new era” in bilateral ties was formalized in March, when Xi visited Moscow and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since beginning his diplomatic career in 1975 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Soviet and East European Affairs, Li has devoted his whole professional life to working with Russia and the governments that arose after the demise of the Soviet Union.
Several European leaders, notably French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have visited Beijing after the Xi-Zelenskyy call and pushed China to play a more active role in curbing Moscow’s actions. Kyiv has rejected the possibility of making any territorial concessions to Russia and instead declared its desire to regain control over the whole country. Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, which was highly criticized at the time. In September of last year, Russia claimed that it had also seized four more territories in eastern Ukraine.
