China will not attend the peace conference conference in Switzerland on Ukraine next month, reported "Reuters" and News.bg. The invitation was rejected by Beijing because the condition for both Ukraine and Russia to participate was not met.
Switzerland's neutral government is seeking to get as many countries as possible to join the June 15-16 peace summit, which Bern hopes will pave the way for a peace process in Ukraine. But Moscow was not invited.
This week, China notified diplomats that the conditions had not been met - that the conference be recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, that all countries have equal participation and that all proposals be discussed.
On May 27, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Beijing supports the convening of a peace conference recognized and with equal participation by all parties.
Yesterday, Sergey Lavrov said that China could organize a peace conference that Russia and Ukraine would attend.
Ukraine has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to participate in the planned summit in Switzerland in June. President Volodymyr Zelensky also called on US President Joe Biden to attend, but there is still no response from the US side.
China has close ties to Russia and has refrained from criticizing its invasion of Ukraine, but has offered help mediating the conflict.
Switzerland was trying to convince more countries from the Global South, which include India, China, Pakistan, Brazil, to attend the conference.
We remind you that last year China published the so-called "peace plan" with his ideas for settling the war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine. In a 12-point document released on the first anniversary of the war, China urged Russia and Ukraine to hold peace talks as soon as possible and warned that nuclear weapons should not be used in the conflict.