China is said to be in support of a third round of talks to find a framework for peace in Ukraine after a meeting of senior officials from about 40 countries in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.
The two-day summit in Jeddah was the second of its kind, after a similar forum in Copenhagen earlier this summer, and aims to draft key principles on how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he hoped the initiative would lead to a “peace summit” of world leaders this autumn to endorse the principles, based on his own 10-point formula for a settlement.
The talks, which excluded Russia, were attended by the US, India, the EU and China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui.
“We have many disagreements and we have heard different positions, but it is important that our principles are shared,” Li was reported by Reuters as saying before the meeting.
The 10-point peace formula developed by Zelenskiy includes the respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and the restoration of UN principles and adherence to international law.
A source from the Ukrainian delegation told the Al Arabiya and Al-Hadath news channels that the proposals were supported by several countries.
The Jeddah meeting follows the talks in Copenhagen in June that were designed to be informal and did not yield an official statement, and the Ukrainian source said the 10-point formula “received more support than in Copenhagen”.
An EU source said China “participated actively and was positive about idea of a third meeting at this level”.
The involvement of China is seen as a big diplomatic prize – it had been invited to the Copenhagen talks in June but did not attend.
The official said there was agreement that working groups would be set up to develop details of key themes prominent in Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace formula while a parallel ambassadors group would continue technical work on the issues.
Working groups would investigate solutions in relation to global food security, nuclear safety, environmental security, humanitarian aid, the release of prisoners of war and kidnapped children that would then “feed into future work of this group at national security adviser level”, the source said.
In parallel a separate ambassadors group in Kyiv would continue technical work.
The talks are designed to find a viable basis for a meeting of heads of state, with sources saying a date was “still a bit up in the air but before the end of the year was considered plausible”.
Saudi Arabia has touted its ties to both sides in the war and positioned itself as a possible mediator.
Being a peace broker also presents Riyadh with a chance to repair strained relations with its allies, especially the US in view of the war in Yemen and the 2018 murder of the Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The talks showed the kingdom’s “readiness to exert its good offices to contribute to reaching a solution that will result in permanent peace”, the official Saudi Press Agency claimed.
Organisers brought together three-fifths of the Brics countries, Brazil, India and South Africa, as well as other countries in the global south such as Indonesia, Mexico, Zambia and Egypt.
The world’s biggest exporter of crude oil, Saudi Arabia maintains good relations with China and Moscow on oil policy, although there have been tensions recently after Russia did not adhere to agreed reduction in production.
In May, the kingdom hosted Zelenskiy at an Arab summit, also in Jeddah, where he accused some leaders of turning “a blind eye” to the horrors of Russia’s invasion.
The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, led Washington’s delegation to the Saudi city, a senior White House official said, but no official statement or readout has yet emerged.
The European Council president Charles Michel’s foreign policy adviser, Simon Mordue, represented the EU.
