China urges Russia-Ukraine ceasefire, offers path to peace in position paper, shows sincerity in global governance

A blueprint in good faith | On the one-year anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, China restated its calls for political settlement of the Ukraine crisis with more specific plans that accommodate the concerns of both Russia and Ukraine, in a neutral and consistent manner. In a 12-point position paper dubbed "China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis," issued on Friday morning, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called for ceasing hostilities and resuming peace talks, stopping unilateral sanctions and abandoning the Cold War mentality. It also called for respecting the sovereignty of all countries and expressed opposition to the use of nuclear weapons. Chinese experts said the document should be viewed as a blueprint that has made China's principles clear for resolving the crisis and pointed out the basic path to achieve it constructively.

■ Time will prove the enormous value of China’s position paper: Global Times editorial (Global Times)

Comment by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, M.V.Zakharova, in connection with the publication of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's "China's position on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis" | On February 24, a document entitled "China's position on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis" was published on the official website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. ● We highly appreciate the sincere desire of Chinese friends to contribute to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine by peaceful means. ● We share Beijing's considerations. We are committed to the principles of compliance with the UN Charter, the norms of international law, including humanitarian law, the indivisibility of security, according to which the security of one country should not be strengthened at the expense of the security of another, which applies to the security of individual groups of countries. Like our Chinese colleagues, we consider any restrictive measures unauthorized by the UN Security Council to be illegitimate. It is a crude instrument of unfair competition and economic warfare. ● It was these considerations that dictated our proposals, put forward at the end of 2021, to conclude an Agreement between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on security Guarantees, as well as an Agreement on measures to ensure the Security of the Russian Federation and the Member States of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. We regret that our constructive proposals were rejected by Western countries. ● As for the Ukrainian crisis, Russia is open to achieving its goals through political and diplomatic means. This implies the cessation of supplies of Western weapons and mercenaries to Ukraine, the end of hostilities, the return of Ukraine to a neutral non-aligned status, recognition of the new territorial realities that have developed as a result of the realization of the right of peoples to self-determination, demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, as well as the elimination of all threats emanating from its territory. ● Citizens of Ukraine, including the Russian-speaking population and representatives of national minorities, should be guaranteed all inalienable rights, including the right to speak and study in their native language. All illegal restrictive measures should be abolished and politicized lawsuits in international courts should be withdrawn. ● We are confident that moving along this path will lead to a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace. ● The main obstacle to a peaceful settlement today is the "impossibility" of negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the initiatives of the Ukrainian leader, which testify to the complete isolation of official Kiev from modern realities, including the demand for the withdrawal of Russian troops from our new territories – Donbass, Crimea, which was legislated by the Decree of V. Zelensky on September 30, 2022., Zaporozhye and Kherson region. At the same time, we would also like to remind you that it was Ukraine that in April 2022 stopped the peace talks initiated by it with Russia.(Translation: yandex.ru)