The scheduled visit to Russia this week by senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi not only embodies China's consistent stance on maintaining balanced diplomacy among major countries but also underscores the country's latest efforts to push for a political settlement to the Ukraine crisis.
Wang, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is on an eight-day whirlwind trip to Europe and Russia is the last leg, sending an unmistakable message to the outside world that Beijing will maintain close high-level communication with Moscow despite the politically motivated opprobrium of the West.
Although some Western countries and media have pointed critical fingers at China's relations with Russia and even resorted to malicious slandering of Sino-Russian ties since the Ukraine crisis broke out — the latest example being US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's baseless claim that China is considering providing "lethal material support to Russia", which is totally wrong — China has repeatedly said its relations with Russia are based on non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third countries.
As close neighbors, China and Russia have every reason to continue to cement their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination and deepen their cooperation. Close and stable China-Russia ties also facilitate smooth coordination on multilateral platforms and over issues of regional and global significance.
And although different to that of those Western countries which have been fanning the flames of the conflict, China's consistent stance on the Ukraine crisis is in line with that taken by the majority of countries. With Friday marking the first anniversary of the Ukraine conflict, both the belligerents and other parties involved in the crisis should think solemnly as to whether the war should be allowed to drag on or peace be given a chance.
When addressing the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Wang announced that China will put forth its position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis which supports and promotes peace talks. By standing firmly on the side of peace and dialogue, China is setting an example for what a responsible country should do.
Obviously, for the world to navigate the Ukraine conflict and other geopolitical risks and challenges, it needs new thinking and more practical measures to address the growing number of global security challenges. This is what China offers in its Global Security Initiative Concept Paper, which was released on Tuesday, with the aim of fostering common purpose and concerted actions to eliminate the root causes of international conflicts and reduce the peace, development, security and governance deficits that cause instability, uncertainty and volatility.
An international consensus on peaceful coexistence must be forged and realized by embracing the spirit of solidarity. The larger picture of global security should outweigh selfish strategic calculation so that the complex and intertwined security challenges can be addressed and "the torch of peace be passed from generation to generation".
