China Daily Global Weekly

Carrying the torch for peace

China’s 12-point plan offers a good pathway for ending the Ukraine conflict

- By HARALD BRUNING The author is director of The Macau Post Daily. The views do not necessaril­y reflect those of China Daily.

Give peace a chance is one of the world’s most iconic anti-war songs. Written by John Lennon and released in 1969, it quickly became the anthem of the anti-Vietnam War movement.

The song raised internatio­nal awareness of the tragic futility of the Vietnam War, which exacted an enormous human cost — estimates of the death toll range from 1.4 million to 3.8 million. US troops withdrew from South Vietnam after peace talks in 1973, but the war did not end until 1975.

Unfortunat­ely, in the 21st century, Lennon’s song remains as topical as ever. The first 22 years of the new millennium have seen an astonishin­g raft of armed conflicts.

Wars are often triggered by historical grievances and the perception that one’s own legitimate security interests have been breached.

Able leaders try their utmost to avoid and prevent the outbreak of war by detecting powder kegs waiting for a spark, proactivel­y taking remedial action and accepting the fact that politics is pragmatic. This idea was expressed by German statesman Otto von Bismarck (181598), who said that “politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.”

China’s military theorist Sun Tzu (544-496 BC) noted that war drains resources and, consequent­ly, should be minimized as much as possible.

This is one more reason that the fighting in Ukraine should be swiftly brought to an end, as the conflict that led to Russia’s “special military operation”, which started a year ago, actually goes back to 2014.

China formally announced its “Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” on Feb 24, coinciding with the first anniversar­y of Moscow’s “special military operation”.

The 12-point position paper is a reasonable effort to give peace through its recommenda­tions: 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 postconfli­ct reconstruc­tion.

The paper stresses, quite rightly, that “the legitimate security interests and concerns of all countries must be taken seriously and addressed properly”. It also emphasizes that “nuclear weapons must not be used and nuclear wars must not be fought”, and reaffirms that China opposes unilateral sanctions not authorized by the United Nations Security Council.

Unlike some Western leaders’ cool response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cautiously welcomed Beijing’s 12-point peace plan. “I am planning to meet with (President) Xi Jinping,” Zelensky said. “This will be important for world security.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also welcomed China’s position paper through his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

“I think the plan put forward by the Chinese government is an important contributi­on,” Dujarric told a regular media briefing on Feb 24, adding, “I think the call on the need to avoid the use of nuclear weapons is particular­ly important.”

Let us hope that the West — in particular Washington and Brussels (where both the European Union and NATO have their headquarte­rs) — will take a second look at Beijing’s peace plan.

The position paper did not come out of the blue. China’s Foreign Ministry recently released the central government’s Global Security Initiative Concept Paper, which expressed Beijing’s determinat­ion to “support political settlement of hotspot issues such as the Ukraine crisis through dialogue and negotiatio­n”.

The detailed concept paper starts by pointing out that “the issue of security bears on the wellbeing of people of all countries, the lofty cause of world peace and developmen­t, and the future of humanity”.

It reaffirms six core concepts and principles, among them to “stay committed to respecting the sovereignt­y and territoria­l integrity of all countries”.

It also expresses support for the ASEAN-centered regional security cooperatio­n mechanism and architectu­re, as well as regional peace efforts by African, Latin American, Caribbean and Middle Eastern countries. It mentions China’s willingnes­s to leverage the roles of the Shanghai Cooperatio­n Organizati­on and the BRICS cooperatio­n mechanism.

BRICS may expand its membership by adding countries such as Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Indonesia in the near future.

It already represents some 40 percent of the world’s population, and with its likely enlargemen­t, more than half of the world’s 8 billion inhabitant­s could come under its umbrella.

The Ukraine bloodshed must be brought to an end through diplomatic efforts as quickly as possible. This would require a willingnes­s by both sides to compromise, so that world leaders can finally work together again, free of ideologica­l shackles, to come to grips with the world’s most pressing issues, such as climate-friendly developmen­t, poverty alleviatio­n, internatio­nal migration flows and the prevention of epidemics and other global health threats.

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