Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. 

Xi said China always stands on the side of peace on the Ukraine crisis and its core stance is to facilitate talks for peace during the call.

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began last February, China has made several proposals and issued an official paper to show its stance on politically solving the crisis by promoting peace and facilitating negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Here is an overview of the proposals China has made.

Four 'must be'

During a video summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last March, Xi said that the situation in Ukraine is worrisome and stressed China's principles in solving the crisis.

China maintains that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be fully observed, the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously, and all efforts that are conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis must be supported, he said.

Four jointed international efforts

Xi exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis during his meeting with Scholz last November.

During that meeting, Xi reaffirmed China's support for Germany and Europe to play an important role in facilitating peace talks and to build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe.

Under the current circumstances, the international community should support all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis and call on relevant parties to remain rational and exercise restraint, start direct engagement as quickly as possible, and create conditions for the resumption of talks, said Xi. 

Xi also said the international community should oppose the use of, or the threat to use nuclear weapons, advocate that nuclear weapons cannot be used and that nuclear wars must not be fought, and prevent a nuclear crisis in Eurasia; work together to keep global industrial and supply chains stable and forestall disruption to international cooperation in energy, food, finance and other areas and consequent damage to global economic recovery, especially the economic and fiscal stability of developing countries; and make joint efforts to tide civilians in areas affected by the crisis through the winter, and improve the humanitarian situation to avoid a humanitarian crisis on a bigger scale.

Three thoughts

During his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia, last November, Xi said facing a global crisis like the one in Ukraine, it's important to give serious thought to the following: first, conflicts and wars produce no winner; second, there is no simple solution to a complex issue; and third, confrontation between major countries must be avoided.

Xi stressed once again that China has all along stood on the side of peace and will continue to encourage peace talks.

One position paper

The Chinese Foreign Ministry released a 12-point position paper on a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis on February 24.

The 12 points are: Respecting the sovereignty of all countries; Abandoning the Cold War mentality; Ceasing hostilities; Resuming peace talks; Resolving the humanitarian crisis; Protecting civilians and prisoners of war; Keeping nuclear power plants safe; Reducing strategic risks; Facilitating grain exports; Stopping unilateral sanctions; Keeping industrial and supply chains stable and Promoting post-conflict reconstruction.

Click here for the full text of the position paper

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: Smoke rises from buildings in Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, April 26, 2023. /CFP)