In early May 2024, China's special envoy Li Hui made a series of visits to countries in the Global South. As a result, China developed a new six-point "peace plan."
This is about: respecting the "three principles" to reduce tensions: stopping hostilities, preventing the escalation of the conflict and its expansion into new territories, and recognizing that dialogue and negotiations are the only possible way to resolve the crisis. It is recommended to avoid attacks on civilians and objects, protect women, children and other victims of the conflict, and respect the fundamental rights of prisoners of war.
In addition, mention is made of preventing the use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and avoiding nuclear crises, and countering armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.
Joint support is declared for international cooperation in the fields of energy, finance, grain trade, transport, as well as ensuring the security of key infrastructure such as oil and gas pipelines, energy facilities and submarine optical cables, as well as the stability of the global supply system.
Based on this, on May 23, 2024, the governments of Brazil and China issued a joint statement on the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine, advocating for political negotiations to achieve peace and called for a conference on this matter.
On August 2, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that the Chinese-Brazilian "six-point consensus" on ending the war in Ukraine had allegedly received "positive" feedback from more than 110 countries. Brazilian President Lula da Silva "advertised" the Brazilian-Chinese peace plan during the opening of the UN General Assembly. The Brazilian leader's foreign policy adviser at the UN General Assembly sought support for the plan from representatives of 20 countries in the Global South at their meeting in New York.
China, Brazil and other countries of the Global South have agreed to create a platform called “Friends of Peace,” which will supposedly become a platform for a peaceful resolution of the “Ukrainian crisis.” This is the name that “Friends of Peace” gave to the war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine. According to China and Brazil, “Friends of Peace” will not be a closed group of countries, but an open platform that does not seek competition and confrontation, but rather, it seems, for an inclusive dialogue.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, discussed China's support for Russia's defense industry, noting that China's talk of peace in Ukraine does not correspond to Beijing's actual actions.
E. Blinken noted that about 70% of machine tools and 90% of microelectronics imported by Russia come from China and Hong Kong, which helps Moscow produce missiles, armored vehicles and ammunition for the war against Ukraine.
"So when Beijing says that on the one hand it wants peace, it wants to see an end to the conflict, and on the other hand it allows its companies to do things that actually help Putin continue his aggression, that is absolutely not the case," Blinken said.
As The Times notes , it is the Chinese company that supplies Russia with specially created military drones for testing in Ukraine. The corresponding agreement between the Chinese company and Russia was concluded last year.
President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized alternative "end-of-war" initiatives to Ukraine's peace formula and suggested that their supporters "want to do part of what" Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is doing. He mentioned the Brazilian and Chinese initiative during a speech to the UN General Assembly .
"If someone in the world is looking for alternatives to any of the points of the Peace Formula or is trying to ignore any of them, it probably means that they themselves want to do part of what Putin is doing. The fact that they ignore shows the desire that they are hiding," the Ukrainian president said.
When the "Chinese-Brazilian duo" tries to form a "chorus of voices" with someone in Europe and Africa, declaring something alternative to a full and just peace, it begs the question of what their real interest is, he said.
He also added that the world has already gone through colonial wars and conspiracies of great states thanks to smaller ones, noting that "every country including China, Brazil, countries of Europe, Africa, the Middle East understand why this should remain in the past. And Ukrainians will never accept the fact that someone in the world believes that now, instead of a normal, peaceful life, such a cruel colonial past can be imposed on Ukraine, which today does not suit anyone."
V. Zelensky reported that Russia is using Chinese satellites to photograph Ukrainian nuclear power plants , which it could potentially strike in the future.
It is becoming clear that China's "peace initiative" is nothing more than an image project to present itself as a peacemaker. There are serious doubts about Beijing's neutrality, especially given Moscow's support for the Chinese plan. In practice, we have the creation of an alternative peace plan to the Peace Formula, each provision of which is based on the norms and principles of the UN Charter.
The Chinese-Brazilian plan does not even mention the principle of territorial integrity of UN countries, or the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territories, which broke into foreign territory with the aim of its illegal annexation. Beijing's call for negotiations and a ceasefire is very much in line with the Kremlin's position.
Only Moscow declares that the negotiations will be conducted exclusively taking into account the situation at the front, that is, the captured territories must go to Russia. Brazil and China know this well, but they remain silent and do not condemn Moscow's position contrary to the UN Charter.
We see a hidden desire to legalize Russian military seizures of Ukrainian territory. And this is not only immoral, but also opens the gates to the implementation of new illegal territorial annexations in the world in the future.