China is aiming to to play a more active role in ending the year-old war, in this context, a Wall Street Journal report says that Chinese President Xi Jinping will be visiting Moscow for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is also part of a push for multi-party peace talks, the report added. China is also expected to take up the issue of nuclear weapons and that they should not be used in any situation.
While the itinerary for Xi’s visit is still being decided, he is likely to visit Moscow in April of in early May, the month when Russia celebrates its World War II victory, Wall Street Journal reported.
The last time Xi and Putin met was in China before the Beijing Winter Olympics last year. The two countries had announced a “no limits” partnership during that meet.
Meanwhile, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi is in Moscow where he will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday. His visit is also aimed at trying to resolve the Ukraine war through a negotiated settlement. The war will mark its one-year anniversary on February 24.
He said relations with Russia were “solid as rock”, after a meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev on Tuesday. In comments broadcast on Russia TV, Wang said relations between the two countries were “solid as rock and will stand the trials of the changing international situation”. Wang said China sought to “promote mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas”.
Wang Yi holds the diplomatic distinction of being Beijing’s man in the corridors of power of the United States as a former Chinese ambassador in Washington DC. Wang Yi is the current director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, one of the bodies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responsible for the executive functioning of Beijing’s foreign policy. While he is not the foreign minister, it is under Wang Yi’s directorship of the CCP’s Central Foreign Affairs Committee that China’s foreign policy is formulated at present.