South Africa backs Ukraine peace plan – Beijing
South Africa has endorsed a China-Brazil proposed roadmap for resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and is prepared to work with the two countries to promote it, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday.
Beijing’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, secured the support when he visited Africa’s most advanced economy on Friday and held talks with officials, according to a ministry statement.
“South Africa appreciates the shuttle diplomacy China has carried out, and believes that countries of the Global South should enhance cooperation to make a fair and just voice in the international community and create conditions for promoting the cooling down of the situation and the ultimate realization of peace,” it stated.
China and Brazil presented the six-point proposal in May, calling on Moscow and Kiev to observe three principles for deescalating hostilities, including no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting, and no provocation by any party. The plan highlighted diplomacy as the sole means to settle the conflict, advocating for an international peace conference that both Russia and Ukraine would accept.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the framework has received a “positive response” from more than 110 countries.
“China is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with South Africa and promote the formation of the broadest common ground that pools the international consensus based on the six common understandings,” the ministry said.
Beijing declined an invitation to attend Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘peace summit’ in Switzerland last month, citing the ineffectiveness of the gathering without Moscow’s participation. The Chinese government also criticized the summit for focusing solely on Zelensky’s peace plan and ignoring other ceasefire initiatives.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also reiterated his willingness to seek a diplomatic solution to the fighting, which has raged for more than two years, but declared that any talks without Moscow are “nonsense.”
South Africa – a member of the BRICS bloc alongside Brazil, China, India, and Russia – has remained neutral in the Russia-Ukraine conflict despite pressure from Western powers to condemn Moscow.
In June of last year, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa led a delegation of African leaders to Russia and Ukraine, seeking ceasefire commitments from both sides. While Moscow expressed interest in reviewing the mission’s ten-point plan, Kiev insisted that it will only accept a peace formula that calls for Russia’s unconditional withdrawal from all territories that Ukraine claims as its own.
