The past month has been a busy one for China’s diplomatic corps. In the span of just a few weeks, Xi Jinping held the first phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart since the beginning of the war. Following upon the call, Beijing has dispatched a diplomatic mission to supposedly lay ground for a diplomatic solution to the conflict, while China’s Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, toured France, Germany and, interestingly, Norway who has just taken over as chair of the Arctic Council from Russia. China has also been active on the home front, receiving high-level delegations from Russia, Hungary and the Netherlands and hosting a pompous summit in Xi’an for the countries of Central Asia. It seems Beijing wants to have it all. But is that possible?

In an attempt to stabilize China’s image of a responsible global actor, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, embarked on a trip to Europe with stops in Kyiv, Warsaw, Berlin, Paris, Brussels and Moscow to “promote communication toward a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis“. While it is true that his visit in Ukraine marked the first working-level dialogue between China and Ukraine since the war erupted. As expected, not much has come out of the talks as Kyiv as well as its Western allies have been consistent in communicating a message to the Chinese that (only) „Zelensky’s formula is the base for brokering peace,“ emphasizing that a ceasefire would have to be conditioned by the withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity within the internationally-recognized borders, elements that are missing from the Chinese 12-points proposition.

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