(CNSNews.com) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that a Chinese “peace plan” for Ukraine aligns in many respects with Russia’s views, and could form the basis for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, “when the West and Kyiv are ready for it.”
But, Putin said after talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow, there was no sign at present of any readiness on the part of the Ukrainian government and its Western backers.
“We believe that many of the provisions of the peace plan put forward by China are consonant with Russian approaches and can be taken as the basis for a peaceful settlement when the West and Kyiv are ready for it,” he said. “However, so far, we have not seen such readiness on their part.”
The Chinese proposals released last month include a call for a ceasefire, but are silent on the question of Russia pulling its troops out of Ukrainian territory. U.S. officials have repeatedly stated that a ceasefire absent a Russian withdrawal would be unacceptable.
Putin spoke warmly of the Russia-China partnership, saying relations were “at the highest level in all our history,” and that he and Xi had affirmed that their views on regional and international problems “are identical or very close.”
He said Russia and China had a shared outlook on the state of international affairs, where principles such as non-interference in internal affairs and freedom of trade were being violated, amid an expanding recourse to “illegitimate, politically biased sanctions.”
“Russia and China strongly oppose any state or bloc seeking to harm the legitimate interests of any other country in order to obtain military, political and economic advantages,” Putin said, in comments directed at the U.S., its allies, and the NATO alliance.
By contrast, Russia and China were pursuing “an independent and sovereign foreign policy,” working together to create “a more just and democratic multipolar world order.”
Xi’s remarks matched his host’s enthusiasm about the state of relations between their countries.
“Sino-Russian ties have gone far beyond bilateral relations and are of vital importance for the modern world order and the destiny of mankind,” he declared.
On Beijing’s bid to mediate a settlement in Ukraine, Xi said that its approaches were “guided by the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, adhere to an objective and impartial position, and actively promote reconciliation and the restoration of negotiations.”
He did not refer to Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory, or to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. (China’s 12-point Ukraine political settlement plan does state that “the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld.”)
There is no ‘greater democracy’
Putin and Xi signed a hefty document entitled “Joint Statement of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era.”
In it, they pledged to work together to speed up the process of establishing a “multipolar world order,” by providing mutual support in defending each other’s “core interests, primarily sovereignty, territorial integrity, security and development”; deepening practical cooperation; and promoting a “democratization of international relations.”
“There is no ‘greater democracy,’” it says. “The sides oppose attempts by one country to impose its values on others, to draw ideological lines, to create a false narrative about the so-called standoff of democracies and autocracies, to use diplomacy and freedom as a pretext and a political instrument for putting pressure on other nations”
“Each state has the right to independently choose the path of development in the field of human rights. Different civilizations and countries should respect and accept each other.”
The comments about democracy allude to criticism Moscow and Beijing leveled at the U.S.-led “summit for democracy” held in late 2021.
In their last major joint agreement, the “no limits” partnership declared when they met in Beijing in February last year, Putin and Xi deplored what they called attempts by some countries to impose “democratic standards” on others.
The U.S. will co-host a second “summit for democracy” next week. China’s foreign ministry has reiterated its opposition to the initiative, saying the first summit had been “a preposterous show in violation of the spirit of democracy and exposed the U.S.’s hegemony in the guise of democracy.”
A Chinese government document released on Monday on “the state of democracy in the United States” went further, saying the U.S. was now planning a second summit, “to check how various countries had performed on meeting U.S. standards for democracy and to issue new orders.”
“To brand oneself as democracy while others as autocracies is in itself an act contrary to democracy,” it said. “The so-called ‘democracy versus authoritarianism’ narrative does not reflect the realities of today’s world, nor is it in line with the trend of the times.”