It has the chimerical mission of achieving peace when the contenders are still looking for a solution on the battlefield. Li Hui, China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, has embarked on a journey to explore with all parties a political solution to the war. He starts it this Tuesday in Ukraine and will continue, without knowing the order, in Russia, Poland, France and Germany.
The mediation was announced in April after Xi Jinping and Volodimir Zelenski, the Chinese and Ukrainian presidents, had a telephone conversation, the first since the war began. Xi clarified that China “is on the side of peace“and that” it will never remain idle or throw gasoline on the fire, much less take advantage “of the war. He also appointed Li as the man to solve the mess. Last Friday the Foreign Ministry revealed that the trip would begin this week and it He described it as further evidence of “China’s efforts to promote peace” and its “equidistant and impartial” stance.
The calendar rules out optimism. Li lands in kyiv with the drums of war thundering on the eve of the highly announced counteroffensive Ukrainian to reconquer the occupied territories. The two parties, warn analysts, trust that a favorable development of the war will shore up their claims before negotiating. They don’t help either doubts from Washington and Brussels on the mediation of China, which they see excessively leaning towards Russia. kyiv and Moscow view the Chinese efforts with more interest.
Putin’s medal
Li has not escaped the climate of suspicion either. As soon as his appointment was known, many influenced his Russophilia and the friendship medal he received from Vladimir Putin after his 10 years as ambassador to Moscow. A feverish archeology in the newspaper library has discovered him saying that China “needs a strong Russia” and that both countries must stand “shoulder to shoulder.” The matter, viewed from a distance, only responds to diplomatic usage and analysts rule out that his ties with Moscow cloud his judgment.
Li does not lack stripes or tables. He entered in 1975, when Moscow and Beijing flirted with war and Mao ordered the digging of nuclear shelters, in the Department of Soviet Affairs and Eastern Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was appointed deputy foreign minister in 2008 and posted to the Moscow foreign ministry a year later. During a decade in office he prepared nine official visits of Xi and bilateral trade tripled. He speaks fluent Russian and devotedly reads Tolstoy, Pushkin and Dostoevsky. “He knows the Russian soul,” agree those who have worked with him.
has dealt with the Soviet Union in thick and thin, with Russia later and also with the independent republics and their conflicts. He has had contacts with Ukraine and visited last year Georgia, who fought with Russia in 2008. His appointment has raised more questions in distant Western diplomacy and media than in kyiv. “We hope that his deep knowledge of our region will help him communicate with everyone impartially and effectively,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko told NBC. He will also help you with his rank, which grants you more power and respect than a simple emissary.
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Tact will be needed to bring together not only Russia and Ukraine but also Poland, the most enthusiastic about US belligerence, and France and Germany, whose presidents have been showered with criticism for breaking the quorum in Brussels after their trips to Beijing.
Li’s peace mission marks the most determined Chinese effort to find a way out of the European conflict. Since February, he has defended his 12-point plan, which includes a immediate unconditional ceasefire. His proposal has been scorned by the West and received more support in Brazil and the Global South.