China, Brazil hold Ukraine peace plan meeting at UN, aim to be 'partners' to Moscow, Kyiv

China and Brazil on Friday sought to advance their long-standing bid to mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, a diplomatic effort marked by broad objectives yet few specifics.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi voiced hope that the international community would convene a peace conference with a "fair discussion" of all proposals, without offering a date or location.

Wang added that "we oppose using the crisis as an excuse" to pile on sanctions, in an apparent reference to the US.

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"We want to be partners to Russia and Ukraine as they work towards peace," he said after the meeting. "We must avoid a resurgence of a Cold-War mentality."

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a meeting at the United Nations in New York on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua alt=Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a meeting at the United Nations in New York on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua>

China and Brazil were joined in their discussion on Friday by Algeria, Bolivia, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey and Zambia.

Neither the US nor the European Union took part. France, Hungary and Switzerland sent observers.

In response hours later, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopped short of endorsing the Chinese and Brazilian proposal, saying it could potentially be helpful.

"Any plan that's grounded clearly in the principles of the United Nations charter - notably territorial integrity, sovereignty, independence - is something that's worth looking at," he told reporters in New York.

But America's top diplomat believed any lasting solution would need effectively to balance the interests of both sides, not simply benefit Russia, China's ally.

"A peace in which the aggressor gets everything that it's sought and the victim does not have its rights upheld is not a recipe for a lasting peace and certainly not a just one," said Blinken.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised the proposal jointly offered by Brazil and China, arguing on Tuesday that "Russia can only be forced into peace, and that is exactly what's needed".

A day later, in a speech to the UN General Assembly, Zelensky questioned why the two countries floated an alternative to his own peace formula.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. Zelensky has criticised the peace proposal from China and Brazil as too favourable to Russia. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire/dpa alt=Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. Zelensky has criticised the peace proposal from China and Brazil as too favourable to Russia. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire/dpa>

Proposing "alternatives, half-hearted settlement plans, so-called sets of principles" would only give Moscow the political space to continue waging war, the Ukrainian leader said.

But Celso Amorim, chief adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, told reporters on Friday that the assembled nations were not in New York to weigh in on the positions of either Zelensky or Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I'm not here to respond either to Zelensky or Putin, just to propose a way for peace," he said, calling the meeting "a first step" towards other countries' broad participation.

Support from Global South nations for a six-point proposal by Brazil and China had strengthened since he and Wang introduced it in May, Amorim added.

The Brazilian official asserted that the participation of three Western observers on Friday "is something interesting and shows our openness" to dialogue.

Shortly after Wang and Amorim spoke, the Chinese foreign minister met with Blinken at Beijing's UN mission in New York.

Blinken called the meeting "candid and substantive", noting they discussed military-to-military communication, the risks of artificial intelligence, illegal drugs and the importance of peace and stability in the South China Sea and across the Taiwan Strait.

"I also underscored our strong concern to China's support for Russia's defence industrial base, which fuels Russia's war machine and perpetuates a war that China purports to want to see end," he added.

On that note, Wang urged the US to stop "smearing" China and imposing "indiscriminate" sanctions, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout.

"China's position on the Ukraine issue is open and aboveboard. The United States should stop using this as an excuse to create or incite bloc-confrontation" Wang was quoted as saying.

Wang also touched on the South China Sea, saying that Beijing insists on resolving differences with concerned parties through dialogue and consultation.

"The US should not always stir up trouble in the South China Sea or undermine the efforts of regional countries to maintain peace and stability."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media in New York on Friday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP alt=US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media in New York on Friday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP>

The US secretary of state declined to provide specifics on any planned call or meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping before Biden's term ends in January.

"I've got nothing to share in terms of any schedules," Blinken said. "But we also agreed on the importance of the leaders communicating and so I fully anticipate we will see that in the weeks and months ahead."

Meanwhile, Lula's special adviser Amorim revealed on Friday that, among all the countries represented at the meeting, only the United Arab Emirates declined to sign the joint declaration, citing involvement in other Ukraine peace talks.

Mexico objected to language about Russia's "legitimate security concerns" but went along with the joint statement, Amorim noted, saying: "It takes time for people to see that other paths are not leading anywhere."

Friday's meeting was "the beginning of a conversation" for the newly formed "Friends for Peace" group, which will continue its discussions in New York, he added.

The development "shows that countries from the Global South can play a constructive role in advocating for peace and in expressing wide global support for a political solution that can bring this conflict to a close".

This week, Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, suggested that the US could levy more sanctions on the Asian giant given mounting concern over its support for Russia's wartime economy.

To date, the US has already initiated some 300 sanctions, with limited evidence that it has changed China's approach.

Celso Amorim, chief adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, calls Friday's meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly "a first step" towards other countries' participation in the peace process. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=Celso Amorim, chief adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, calls Friday's meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly "a first step" towards other countries' participation in the peace process. Photo: EPA-EFE>

Yet Blinken on Friday stressed that 70 per cent of the machine tools and 90 per cent of the microelectronics that Russia was drawing on came from China or Hong Kong.

"So when Beijing says on the one hand that it wants peace, it wants to see an end to the conflict, but on the other hand is allowing its companies to take actions that are actually helping Putin continue the aggression, that doesn't add up," he said.

"I'm not going to preview any [sanctions] actions we may be taking in the future, but it's also, I think, important to note that other countries are not only concerned about this, they're acting on it and will continue to act on it."

Wang on Friday said China was ideally positioned to act as an honest broker in any peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

"We did not create the Ukrainian crisis nor are we parties to it," he added. "We have no vested interest."

That line of reasoning has not persuaded Washington, however, which has stated repeatedly that Beijing is hardly neutral even as it has urged Beijing to use more of its political capital with Moscow to jump-start negotiations.

As recently as May, Xi and Putin reaffirmed their "no-limits partnership" at a summit in Beijing.

Western allies have steadily tightened sanctions against the Russian government, companies and individuals since the Kremlin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Nevertheless, global oil sales, barter trade and sanction evasion have buoyed Russia's economy, which posted GDP growth of 3.6 per cent in 2023.

The West's more selective sanctions on mainland companies have tracked with growing concern over Beijing's bid to help prop up Moscow's industrial base with dual-use items.

China has been more active on the global diplomatic stage in recent years, brokering a historic rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023.

Analysts say Moscow's trust in Beijing could be instrumental should the warring sides decide a political settlement is possible.

Wang in New York urged the international community, "especially the Global South", to work together in a spirit of neutrality that "does not reflect the position of any [single] member".

A joint communique released after Friday's talks called for momentum towards "inclusive diplomacy and political means based on the UN charter", increased humanitarian help, de-escalation and an end to the threatened use of weapons of mass destruction.

Wang also called on all sides to prevent attacks on nuclear-power plants, "respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity [and] accommodate each other's legitimate security", adding that "hatred should not proliferate".

Blinken insisted Washington had been clear in its dealings with China. "Our intent is not to decouple Russia from China. Their relationship is their business," he said.

Rather, the US focus was on Chinese support for Russia's war-fighting capability.

"It's a problem for us and it's a problem for many other countries, notably in Europe," Blinken added. "Because right now Russia presents the greatest threat not just to Ukrainian security but to European security since the end of the Cold War."

Additional reporting by Kawala Xie in Washington

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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