“Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Initiated by China, says Former US Diplomat”

International

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The war between Russia and Ukraine is said to be peaceful soon. There is a country that will be his “savior”.

This was emphasized by former Secretary of State of the United States (US) Henry Kissinger. He said that the conflict in Ukraine may be approaching a turning point and peace between the two countries can be initiated from a proposal brokered by China.

To CBS News, Kissinger explained that the peace process between the two could begin at the end of 2023. He was optimistic that peace could occur because China had begun to actively contact Moscow and Kyiv to stop escalation.

“Now that China has entered negotiations, it will reach its peak, I think at the end of this year,” the 99-year-old diplomat was quoted as saying by Russia Today, Monday, (8/5/2023). “At that time, we will talk about the negotiation process and even the actual negotiations.”

China has put itself forward as a potential mediator by releasing its ‘Political Position for the Resolution of the Ukraine Crisis’ in February. Chinese President Xi Jinping has even contacted Moscow and Kyiv regarding this proposal.

China’s plan was rejected outright by the US and the European Union, while Russian President Vladimir Putin described some of his 12 points as “aligned” with Moscow’s position. On the other hand, Ukraine only received a few points.

Even so, China faced a major stumbling block, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnky was still reluctant to negotiate with Russia while still being led by Putin. Zelensky remains adamant on expelling Russia from his territory, including from the Crimean Peninsula which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Moscow has repeatedly said it is open to talks with Kyiv but only if Ukraine recognizes the realities on the ground, including the new status of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as part of Russia. Otherwise, the Kremlin has stated, Russia will resolve the conflict by military means.

Meanwhile, Kissinger himself is a senior US diplomat who has had many breakthroughs. He is well known for his success in opening diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing, which is often referred to as Ping Pong Diplomacy, referring to the meeting between the US and China in a table tennis match in Nagoya, Japan.

Kissinger recently angered Kyiv when he suggested that Ukraine should accept a return to the ‘status quo ante’, or give up its territorial claims over Crimea and grant autonomy to the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, in the name of peace. He has also since suggested that the region could be the basis for negotiations after the armistice and Russian withdrawal.

(sef/sef)