mistervanilla t1_j9y7u7r wrote
Reply to comment by waisonline99 in Ukraine war: Zelensky keen to meet Xi following China's peace plan by alex-98
> The very first point is the sovereignty of all countries must be respected. And since no-one has invaded Russia, that means Russia needs to get out of Ukraine.
No, it doesn't. That's your interpretation and is exactly why in international relations statements are kept vague and ambiguous. Everybody agrees that sovereignty must be respected, but precisely the question of sovereignty is what Ukraine and Russia are fighting over. Ukraine claims they are a sovereign nation independent from Russia, Russia claims that (part of) Ukraine falls within the sovereignty of Russia. Hence, it is not at all clear that Russia needs to get out of Ukraine as part of this statement. Russia has performed mock-referenda in the occupied parts of Ukraine precisely to give legitimacy to their claim of sovereignty.
If the peace plan entailed that Russia would retreat, it would say so specifically, using language referring to mutually established borders at a certain date. Otherwise, the statement has no value. The Chinese peace plan essentially says: "Stop fighting now" which would freeze the borders at the current line of conflict, which would be hugely beneficial for the Putin regime. They get to keep Crimea, Mariupol and most of the southern coastline of Ukraine. He can sell that back home as a win. Especially as we see that it's gearing up to be Ukraine's turn to go on the offensive this spring. So any freezing of the lines of conflict, currently massively favours Russia.
> You use a lot of words, but youre just another anti-chinese hate monger.
Not sure what you want. I have given facts, not opinion - on the Chinese actions. They did send their top diplomat to Putin during the 1 year anniversary, there is credible intelligence that they are gearing up to deliver lethal aid, they do have a meeting between Xi and Putin planned shortly to discuss/announce further cooperation, they absolutely have softened the blow of economic sanctions by buying more fossil fuels from Russia.
Fact is, China does not need a 12 point peace plan. They could end the war tomorrow by joining the economic sanctions on Russia. Without China, Russia cannot stay afloat under the current conditions. China simply does what is in their interest, nothing more, nothing less. And right now it is in their interest that Russia ends the Ukrainian conflict on favorable terms to them, which we see reflected in the peace plan.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments