Xi Jinping finally held a telephone call with Volodymyr Zelensky, one that has long been talked about and publicly, repeatedly sought by Ukraine. The circumstances behind the telephone conversation that took place on April 26 ostensibly on Zelensky’s initiation, are curious.

Xi has had several engagements with Vladimir Putin since the war began last year. Apart from multiple telephone conversations, Xi even went to Moscow and proclaimed the two nations as “good neighbors and reliable partners” during a state visit that took place just three days after an International Criminal Court had issued a warrant against Putin for ‘war crimes’. It outraged the West and signified that China has no intention of abandoning Russia.

What’s more, standing on the doorstep of Kremlin before bidding farewell to Putin and returning home, Xi told the Russian president that changes that “haven’t been seen for 100 years” are taking place and China and Russia “are the ones driving these changes together.” The Russian president responded: “I agree.” The diplomatic partnership between the two nations that unnerves the West was being visibly reinforced.

Before Xi had set foot for the trip to Moscow in March, there was strong media speculation that the Chinese president would either head for Kyiv post Kremlin, or at the very least, speak to Zelensky over the phone to project a sense of balance. That never materialized. China played for time, insisting that time for talks wasn’t ripe yet.

Xi had floated a 12-point ‘peace plan’ in February for a “political settlement” of the Ukraine crisis that found no takers in Europe. It was expectedly dismissed by Ukraine. US president Joe Biden had said the ‘peace plan’ would benefit no one except Russia.

China was considered to be too close to Russia to position itself as a neutral actor for a viable peace initiative, and Xi’s delaying of talking directly to Zelensky fortified the perception that despite its posturing, China isn’t serious over its over its role as an earnest mediator even though many countries, including the Europeans, were calling for China to negotiate a settlement.

There were no major movements in Beijing in reaching out to Kyiv. On the contrary, China said its military was willing to work together with the Russian military to strengthen strategic communication and coordination, reported Reuters, and according toSouth China Morning Post, “China and Russia have signed an agreement to work together in maritime law enforcement following a meeting that took place in a Russian city inside the Arctic Circle, not far from the border with new NATO member Finland.”

The April 26 phone call alters the perception. If we look at the statements that came out from Beijing post the conversation, it appears that China is trying to pull its diplomatic weight and place itself as a responsible actor and a peace broker to the global south, thereby drawing a distinction between itself and the US-led West which it accuses of fueling the conflict.

China is aware that non-western nations perceive the Ukraine war differently. Developments in Europe have triggered a global food, fertilizer and energy crisis. An overwhelming majority in global south want an early, negotiated settlement to the war and does not interpret Russian invasion of Ukraine in existential terms. China is therefore sending a message that while the US-led West is exacerbating the crisis, Beijing is genuinely interested in conflict resolution.

Speaking to Zelensky in a nearly hour-long phone call, Xi stressed on “talks and negotiations” as the “only way out” of the war and said that he would soon send a special envoy to Ukraine and other countries (Li Hui, Beijing’s special representative on Eurasian Affairs, reports South China Morning Post) to confer on “a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis”. Xi also reiterated that “China stood on the side of peace”, and said that “mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is the political foundation of China-Ukraine relations.”

Xi also picked up the topic of a nuclear hot war, saying that: “There are no winners in a nuclear war. In dealing with the nuclear issue, all parties concerned should remain calm and restrained, truly take into account the future and destiny of themselves and all mankind, and jointly manage and control the crisis.” It perhaps betrays his concern that the war might go nuclear.

However, if currying favour with the global south is Xi’s motive, it doesn’t explain why he waited for so long to reach out to or engage with Zelensky. To adequately explain the timing of the phone call, we need to look at the geopolitical context.

It may not be coincidental that Xi’s overture followed damaging comments from China’s ambassador to France who shot his mouth to question the sovereignty of post-USSR states and the validity of Ukraine’s claims over Crimea, the peninsula administered by Russia. In an interview to a French news channel, Beijing’s envoy in Paris had said erstwhile Soviet states such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania “do not have effective status under international law because there is no international accord to concretise their status as a sovereign country” and questioned the veracity of Ukraine’s claims over Ukraine, causing deep furore and outrage in Europe.

Beijing was forced to walk back the statements and insist that the sovereignty of those states is not in question. Chinese foreign ministry quickly disowned Lu’s comments, but the damage was done. Significantly, it came at a time when the European leaders are slated to meet and deliberate on formulating a joint China policy.

London’sFinancial Times报告说,“尽管中国政府在伤害control, with its embassy in France saying Lu was expressing his personal opinions, the ambassador’s claims were prominent in preliminary discussions among EU foreign ministers on their new China policy on Monday.”

This came at an inopportune moment for Xi. It directly undermines his efforts of encouraging European leaders to take a different line on “decoupling” from China, and strengthens the China sceptics within Europe.

ion and trade ties with China, voices in Paris, Berlin or even Brussels are at variance with Washington’s. European leaders such as French president Emmanuel Macron, German president Olaf Scholz, or even mandarins in Brussels such as European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen have called for a “de-risking” strategy instead of “decoupling” from Beijing. Macron has openly called for resisting American pressure on China, while Scholz is batting for reviving the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) with China, that lies in deep freeze for now.Refer

In these circumstances, the self-goal by China’s envoy in Paris constricts Xi’s hand and makes it difficult for him to execute the grand plan of driving a wedge between Europe and the US on economic and trade relations with China.

Xi had to therefore step in. It is conceivable that a phone call with Zelensky calms the European nerves at a crucial time for China and takes the pressure off leaders in Europe to pursue their “independent” China strategy. It also has the added advantage of burning Xi’s image before the global south and create goodwill in Brussels.

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