Window of peace should not be squandered

For many, it might be no exaggeration to describe the disruptive impacts of the first month of the second Donald Trump administration as earthshaking.

That has certainly been the case for the United States’ European allies, as his administration’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict has left them floundering as they scramble to adjust.

What has taken the rest of the world aback is not that the US president, whom his most zealous admirers call the “greatest dealmaker on Earth”, is prepared to broker a deal, but that he has initiated talks with Russia that so far exclude all other parties. Even Ukraine and the European Union have not been invited to the table.

After blaming the war on Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US president is mounting pressure on the latter to sign an agreement that surrenders half of Ukraine’s mineral resources in exchange for so-far unsubstantiated US support.

The US administration seems determined to press ahead with its one-on-one engagement with Russia. It is already talking about improved bilateral relations post settlement.

On Ukraine’s part, President Zelenskyy has expressed willingness to sign such a deal and resign in exchange for a just end to the war and/or NATO membership for his country.

With conflict fatigue setting in after three years of fighting, every stakeholder, Russia included, appears to be in favor of a negotiated end to the war.

That means that although the positions of all parties are not consistent, “a window for peace is being opened”, as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out when speaking to the Chinese media on Saturday, after returning from his visits to the United Kingdom and Ireland and his chairing of a high-level meeting of the United Nations Security Council, and attendance at the Munich Security Conference and the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting.

Wang urged support for all efforts committed to peace, saying that “dialogue is better than confrontation, and peace talks are better than war”.

China has made its position clear on what the outcomes of any peace talks should be: It expects the parties to find a sustainable and lasting solution that accommodates each other’s concerns and promotes long-lasting peace and stability in Europe.

China has always called for an early and peaceful settlement of the crisis and has been actively promoting peace talks in line with President Xi Jinping’s four-point observations about what must be done. In his phone call with his Russian counterpart on Monday, in which he said that China is pleased to see that Russia and relevant parties have made positive efforts to resolve the crisis, Xi stressed that the four propositions are the basis for a political settlement. He reiterated that China is committed to creating an atmosphere and accumulating the conditions for a political solution to the crisis.

Wang also made clear that China will continue to play a constructive role in supporting a political settlement of the crisis; working to build a consensus on ending the conflict so as to pave the way for peace and the establishing of a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture.

With the Trump team saying they want a deal in place within 100 days, it can be anticipated that things will gather pace. But while it is clear that both Ukraine and Russia will have to accommodate some ceding of their staked out positions, one unanticipated impediment to the long-hoped for peaceful resolution to the now three-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict may be the Trump administration’s attempts to ensure that the US is the one that profits from it.

[Abridged]

Editorial, China Daily