Lavrov praises China’s peace plan after visit announced
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has praised Beijing’s peace plan for Ukraine a day after it was announced he is to visit China.
Lavrov will meet top diplomat Wang Yi to discuss Ukraine, the situation in the Asia-Pacific region and other issues, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this week.
She did not say when the trip would take place.
Li Lifan, an expert on Russia and Central Asia at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said it was a sensitive time for the US-China-Russia triangle, and Lavrov’s trip could pave the way for a state visit to China by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which could happen in May.
Putin, who was re-elected last month, has reportedly said he would consider going to China for the first overseas trip of his new presidential term.
Meanwhile, in a message congratulating Putin on his re-election, President Xi Jinping pledged to further deepen the “no limits” partnership with Moscow, defying criticism from the US-led West amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“China’s ties with Russia are at a high point and these frequent high-level exchanges will further consolidate their strategic ties against the backdrop of the intensifying US-China rivalry,” Li said.
He expected Beijing and Moscow to forge cooperation on security, economic and energy issues as well as on regional and international hotspots through platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation that the two countries jointly founded.
Ahead of his China visit, Lavrov on Thursday called Beijing’s 12-point peace initiative on the Ukraine war a “reasonable plan”. He dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plan, which requires Russia to pull back its troops and compensate for its war actions.
“The most important thing for us is that the Chinese document [released in February 2023] is based on an analysis of the reasons for what is happening and the need to eliminate these root causes,” Lavrov said, according to state news agency RIA.
“It is structured in logic from the general to the specific,” he said. “This plan was criticised for being vague … but this is a reasonable plan that the great Chinese civilisation proposed for discussion.”
Lavrov’s visit was announced after a Tuesday call between Xi and US President Joe Biden, when they tried to ease tensions over the South China Sea and Taiwan and other hot-button issues including Ukraine and North Korea.
It was also announced on Tuesday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China in the coming weeks, while Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in China on Wednesday for a week-long visit.
Relations between Beijing and Washington remain at a low point even after high-level exchanges such as these have resumed following the Xi-Biden summit in November.
The growing alignment between Beijing and Moscow also comes at a tense time in China’s dispute with the Philippines over the South China Sea, with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr set to meet Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington next week.
That summit is expected to include the announcement of joint patrols, and the three countries will also hold a joint naval drill with Australia tomorrow in the South China Sea – moves clearly aimed at Beijing.
Meanwhile, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg warned on Wednesday that China was “propping up Russia’s war economy”, while North Korea and Iran provided Moscow with missiles, drones and other weapons.
China, Russia and Iran conducted five-day navy drills last month in the Gulf of Oman amid regional tensions over the IsraelGaza war and attacks by Tehranbacked Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea. Beijing and Moscow have also jointly blocked efforts at the United Nations to impose further sanctions on Pyongyang.
Li said Beijing and Moscow’s efforts to forge closer ties were clearly aimed at countering the US-led alliances.
“The intense interactions and manoeuvring among China, Russia and other major powers are of vital importance, especially in the lead-up to the US presidential election,” he added.