What do we know about China’s Ukraine peace plan amid Putin’s visit?

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping – two wary friends (Picture: Sergei Bobylev/AP)

Vladimir Putin is visiting China – one of isolated Russia’s few remaining allies amid the war in Ukraine.

It comes after China attempts to end the war in Ukraine with the announcement of its peace plan.

However, an expert criticised China’s peace proposal, saying it lacks teeth to end the war.

President Putin, who recently secured another six-year term in office, embarked on his visit to meet Xi Jinping in China on Thursday – his second trip there in six months.

Why is Vladimir Putin visiting China?

The pair were seen sharing a long handshake before embracing each other, marking the start of a two-day visit that is likely to see careful negotiations.

Russia and China have a close trade relationship, which has become increasingly vital for Russia after sanctions by the West.

China’s trade with Russia grew by 26% to a record £240,000,000,000 last year, The Independent reports.

While the neighbours proclaimed a ‘no limits’ relationship just days before Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Beijing has avoided sending weapons and ammunition to Russia, Reuters reports.

According to Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies at King’s College London and director of Lau China Institute, Putin is in China because the country is Russia’s ‘lifeline.’

‘Putin is in China because it offers an economic lifeline, if nothing else, as the country suffers from sanctions in the west,’ he told Metro.co.uk.

He continued: ‘And China is hosting him because they are massive neighbours, China wants strategic autonomy over its foreign affairs, it is not an ally of NATO or the West, and it has to work with Russia whether it likes it or not – something that has largely been the case for the last four hundred years!’

But China is thought to be treading carefully as its partnership with Russia can bring further scrutiny from the West, Reuters reports.

What is China’s Ukraine peace plan?

Although China has revealed a 12-point paper on ending the war, there is no clearly set plan beyond Xi’s calls for a ‘cooling down’ of the situation, according to the news agency.

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping hang out in China (Credits: via REUTERS) (Picture: Sergei Guneev/Reuters/Sputnik)

Prof Brown said: ‘China’s peace plan is more a declaration of intent and interest, but is largely devoid of any sense of how it might be implemented.

‘This is why it has been criticised, because all it says is that the two sides need to stop the conflict, but doesn’t do the most crucial thing a peace plan needs to do, and that is to say why. 

He continued: ‘What does China want? It would be happy with a deal in which both Russia and Ukraine can say they have walked away the winner from this conflict.’

It wants a stable Russia it can continue to continue to ‘get energy and business from and not cause it political problems,’ he explained.

Ukraine is also a ‘source of economic growth and opportunities.’

China has ‘an eye on the rebuild of the country, if and when the war is over – along with America and everyone else,’ he said.

‘It does not want a perpetual war, and it does not want Russia to continue to cause it problems with the US.

China’s leader Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet for his friend Putin (Picture: Sergei Guneyev/AP)

‘In the end, China is a self-interested, self-motivated power, one with an economy nine times that of Russia, and with far more at stake if things deteriorate.

‘The outside world might carp and moan, but for Putin to say China understands Russia is probably a sign that he got the message when he was in Beijing – China’s patience and help are important, but conditional and limited. This war needs an endgame. It cannot continue perpetually.’

What have world leaders said about it?

World leaders have had a mixed reaction to the peace plan.

While China’s peace plan was labelled useless and vague by commentators, Moscow expressed careful praise, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace reports.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: ‘Any attempt to produce a plan that would put the conflict on a peace track deserves attention.

But it was rejected by Kyiv and the West, with US President Joe Biden saying he has seen ‘nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia if the Chinese plan were followed,’ he told ABC News.

What about Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky?

His peace plan demands a withdrawal of Russian troops, the restoration of the 1991 post-Soviet borders and making Russia accountable for its actions in the war, according to Reuters.

Zelensky’s aide slammed Putin’s negotiation activity on X (formerly Twitter), saying it was making demands disguised as diplomacy.

Zelensky is reportedly working hard to get China to attend a Swiss peace summit in June, to which Russia is not invited.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.