Chinese President Xi Jinping was on a three–day visit to Moscow, after which he is scheduled to land in Kyiv. In a joint statement issued at the end of the second day of the Xi-Putin meeting in Moscow, the two sides touched on various current and long-term issues and how they look at them.
The joint statement unravels their ambition of reaching almost the globe with their “peace plan,” which stands on the central pillar of multilateralism. Of late, China has been vociferous about multilateralism, which in simpler terms, means challenging US-led unipolarity in the world order.
The two leaders have extensively talked about the resolution of disputes through dialogue and cementing of peace. Both countries have vowed to attach great importance to developing ties with Latin America and the Caribbean countries.
Also, an expansion of cooperation in Africa was touched upon, with both leaders seeking to maintain a “sound and healthy” climate for international cooperation.
Before leaving Beijing for his visit to Moscow, Xi issued a 12-point peace formula for Ukraine. It appears that the two leaders have discussed the draft formula, but Putin took a hard line at the joint press conference that capped the day of talks.
He noted that many of the provisions of a 12-point peace plan recently put forward by China dovetailed with Moscow’s approach to any future tasks “when the West and Kyiv are ready for it.” However, he added, “we have not seen such readiness from their side yet.”
Making a case, Putin said that the Western allies continued to arm Ukraine with tanks and other weapons, mentioning an announcement by Britain on Tuesday that it planned to send armor-piercing shells containing depleted uranium to Kyiv.
