Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit his nation, saying they have not been in contact since the war began and he is “ready to see him here.”
“I want to speak with him,” Zelenskiy told reporters on Tuesday, a week after Xi visited Russian President Vladimir Putin.
China has been economically aligned and politically favorable toward neighboring Russia across many decades, and Beijing has provided Putin diplomatic cover by staking out an official position of neutrality in the war.
Photo: AP
Xi is an important player in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and even China’s lack of involvement is a potent statement.
Zelenskiy spoke aboard a train that was shuttling him across Ukraine, to cities near some of the fiercest fighting and others where his country’s forces have successfully repelled Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskiy rarely travels with journalists, and the president’s office said the two-night train trip with reporters was the most extensive since the war began.
Zelenskiy has extended invitations to Xi before in recent months, but this explicit call to visit comes days after the Chinese leader visited Putin in Russia last week.
However, the Ukrainian leader said he has not communicated with Xi for the duration of the conflict.
“We are ready to see him here,” Zelenskiy said. “I had contact with him before full-scale war, but during all this year, more than one year, I didn’t have.”
In Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) was asked whether Xi would accept an invitation from Zelenskiy — or whether one had been officially extended.
She told reporters she had no information to provide, aside from saying that Beijing maintains “communication with all parties concerned, including Ukraine.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked whether a meeting between Xi and Zelenskiy would be useful to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
Peskov said Russian authorities “highly appreciate” China’s balanced position on the issue and “have no right to come up with any advice” on whether the two should meet.
“The Chinese leader himself decides the appropriateness of certain contacts,” Peskov said on Wednesday during his daily conference call with reporters.
In Washington, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US supports talks between Xi and Zelenskiy, “and my goodness, we’ve been saying that for weeks.”
Xi’s Russia visit last week raised the prospect that Beijing might be ready to provide Moscow with the weapons and ammunition it needs to refill its depleted stockpile.
However, Xi’s trip ended without any such announcement.
Days later, Putin said he would deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which neighbors Russia and pushes the Kremlin’s nuclear stockpile closer to NATO territory.
Zelenskiy suggested that Putin’s move was intended to distract from the lack of guarantees he received from China.
“What does it mean? It means that the visit was not good for Russia,” Zelenskiy said.
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