Beijing To Pursue Ukraine Peace 'in Its Own Way'

Premier Li Keqiang told EU leaders on Friday that Beijing would push for peace in "its own way" in Ukraine after Brussels pressed for assurances that China would not supply Russia with arms or help it circumvent Western sanctions.

Li spoke with the presidents of the European Commission and European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell for almost two hours by video link in the first EU-China summit in two years.

Li told the EU leaders that China has always sought peace and promoted negotiations and is willing to continue to play a constructive role together with the international community, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

EU officials close to the summit preparations had said any help given to Russia would damage China's jeopardise relations with its biggest trade partners -- Europe and the United States.

An EU official said on Friday China's stance towards Russia was the "million-dollar question". Another pointed out that over a quarter of China's global trade was with the bloc and the United States last year, against just 2.4 percent with Russia.

China has concerns that European countries are taking harder-line foreign policy cues from the United States and has called for the EU to "exclude external interference" from its relations with China.

President Xi Jinping, who took part in a separate virtual meeting with the two EU leaders on Friday, said he hoped the European Union could form its view of China "independently", CCTV reported.

Wang Yiwei, an expert on Europe at Beijing's Renmin University, said both China and the EU wanted the conflict in Ukraine to end.

"I imagine China would want to use this summit to discuss with the EU how to create the conditions acceptable to Putin for him to climb down from his current position," he said. (Reuters)