China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi indicated this week that the basis for optimism in peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia is not some magic formula, but the prospect of benefits coming from the design of great scientific and infrastructural projects in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Overlooked and/or not properly appreciated is his recollection of the December 2013 (pre-Maidan) action by Ukraine’s government in signing to join with China’s Belt and Road.
As reported in CGTN coverage on July 24, Wang pointed out that “Ukraine was one of the first countries to support and participate in the Belt and Road Initiative” and that the “two sides should capitalize on the role of bilateral cooperation mechanisms and strengthen practical cooperation in various fields….”
We must proceed on the basis of mutual respect and advancing beneficial cooperation, Wang said. The two countries have to view the relationship from a long-term perspective and promote the healthy and stable development of China-Ukraine relations.
Of special note, Wang made no mention of the Western-driven and -financed coup in Kyiv that followed in the wake of President Viktor Yanukovych’s December 3-6, 2013 trip to Beijing, meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on joining the BRI. The governments of Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelenskyy came into being in consequence of that coup and the disruption of Ukraine’s plans with the BRI. However, Wang Yi simply reminded Ukraine of the road not taken, as if it were all water under the bridge, with China ready to pick up where things had left off.
CGTN reported that Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded favorably. In CGTN’s words: “Kuleba said China is a great country, and Ukraine and China are not only strategic partners but also important economic and trade partners. The Ukrainian side hopes to jointly implement the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state, consolidate political mutual trust, activate cooperation in various fields, including economy, trade and agriculture, and strengthen exchanges between the two countries’ sister cities.”
Economic development is the key for peace.
