On the one-year anniversary of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, China presented a 12-point peace plan aimed at restoring diplomacy and bilateral negotiations between the two countries. The proposal reflects the Chinese government’s stance of neutrality, which has refused to support anti-Russian resolutions at the UN and instead maintains a direct dialogue with Moscow to develop more realistic proposals.
The peace plan calls for an immediate end to hostilities and a return to peace talks, with a focus on defending civilians and prisoners of war, as well as ensuring the safety and stability of nuclear power plants. Beijing also advocates for the banning of unilateral sanctions, which would enable economic cooperation and rapid reconstruction of conflict-affected areas.
The 12 points of the proposal include respecting the sovereignty of all countries, abandoning the Cold War mentality, reducing strategic risks, facilitating grain exports, keeping industrial and supply chains stable, and promoting post-conflict reconstruction.
China’s proposal represents a broad diplomatic platform that addresses essential topics for achieving a peaceful resolution to the conflict without showing bias towards either side. Despite the proximity between Russia and China, the proposal shows a true position of neutrality, seeking to meet the interests of both sides as much as possible.
However, Western governments immediately rejected the plan without any prior discussion. Some politicians and experts have criticised the Chinese proposal, claiming that it ignores the interests of Ukraine and its people in favor of a “pro-Russian peace.”
According to analysts Clayton Allen and Anna Ashton, who are associated with the Eurasia Group, a consulting agency and think tank that advises Western governments, China’s twelve-point peace plan is biased in favor of Moscow and echoes “Russian justifications for the invasion.”
They claim that while several of the points address Chinese concerns about actions associated with Russia, the plan still echoes Russia’s justifications for its invasion and can be framed as supporting Moscow’s positions. They suggest that China’s approach is walking a diplomatic tightrope of strengthening ties with Russia, a key geostrategic ally and counterbalance to the West, while avoiding a position that is seen as openly hostile to Western aims.
However, this assessment appears to be exaggerated. Proposing peace means seeking the best solution for both sides, which in this case means meeting the interests of the winning side, which is Russia. Moscow’s seeming “benefit” from the plan is due to the reality that Russian troops have an advantage on the battlefield. It is unrealistic to expect a “peace” proposal to fulfill Ukraine’s objective of withdrawing Russian forces from the liberated regions. What Ukraine and the West understand by “peace” is the recapture of Russian territories, including Crimea, which is not a viable option.
Worse still, NATO members and allies not only rejected the proposal but also spread rumours about China’s possible intention to send weapons to Russia. According to the Western narrative, the Chinese peace project was merely an excuse to advance cooperation with Moscow and boost bilateral military relations, with plans to supply Russia with weapons in case of rejection of the proposal.
Beijing has denied the allegations, calling them “disinformation”, but at the same time Chinese officials seem aware of the danger caused by Western bellicoseness. In a recent statement, Mao Ning, the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, informed that the Chinese attitude towards Ukraine is completely peaceful, but recalled that while supplying the Kiev regime with weapons, Washington also acts in a destabilizing way in Taiwan, thus posing a security risk to both Russia and China.
“On the Ukraine issue, China has been actively promoting peace talks and the political settlement of the crisis (…) [However] In addition to pouring lethal weapons into the battlefield in Ukraine, the US has been selling sophisticated weapons to the Taiwan region in violation of the three China-US joint communiqués”, Mao said.
What seems to be happening is yet another “self-fulfilling prophecy” on the part of the West. Believing in its own baseless narrative that China wants to send weapons to Russia, the US takes unnecessary preventive measures whose side effects can be precisely the increase of Russian-Chinese military cooperation. If before there was no plan on the part of Beijing to send arms to the Russian side, it is possible that this will happen now, since the peace proposals have been exhausted and the Chinese are aware that these same forces that push Ukraine towards a proxy war against Russia may soon act against Beijing in Taiwan.
In their anti-Russian and anti-Chinese paranoia, the US and the EU make the wrong decisions and put global peace at risk. Beijing is trying to resolve the situation diplomatically, but Western forces also need to prioritise peace.
