“According to Heorhiy Tykhi, 2024 will be the year of development of relations between Ukraine and China”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
Tykhy noted that after a long pause between Ukraine and China, several contacts took place.
“Bilateral political consultations between Ukraine and China took place in the summer, and at the level of deputy ministers of foreign affairs. And the first visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to China directly in the last 12 years, where the negotiations took place. And the meeting of the foreign ministers of Ukraine and China in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly,” said Tykhy.
According to him, this is evidence that “the political dialogue between Ukraine and the People’s Republic of China is developing.”
“And it is very important that this is a direct dialogue without intermediaries and there is an opportunity to exchange opinions directly,” the speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.
Heorhiy Tykhy also added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers China’s participation and role to be important in bringing a just peace to Ukraine.
“Minister Andriy Sybiga emphasized that China is one of those countries that can and does influence the Russian Federation. And we will continue to maintain this contact with the Chinese side,” said the spokesman of the foreign policy department.
Tykhi noted that China’s response is also important in nuclear and food security topics, in which Russia poses systemic and global threats.
“We need a reaction, in particular from China, to these actions of Russia in order to show that they will not be tolerated. Both global food security and nuclear security are critically important to Beijing and other key world capitals,” he added.
In 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to develop contacts with China. Tychy added that the country’s new ambassador started working in Ukraine the other day.
“We expect that this is also an important signal from the Chinese side that relations with Ukraine are important for them. And we expect that they will develop at all levels next year and we are working on it,” the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summarized.
China positions itself as a neutral party in the war in Ukraine and declares that it does not provide military aid to either side, unlike the US and other Western countries.
But Beijing remains a close political and economic ally of Russia, and NATO members have branded China a “decisive facilitator” of a war it has never condemned.