China aspires to become a superpower of global peace

The past few days have proved that China is an honest and unbiased peace broker — the latest examples being its efforts to mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine, and between Israel and Palestine.

The signing of the "Beijing Declaration" by 14 Palestinian factions on Tuesday to end divisions and strengthen Palestinian unity is a significant step toward establishing an independent state of Palestine, which would live peacefully with Israel under the two-state solution framework.

The consensus on post-conflict governance in the Gaza Strip and forming of an interim national reconciliation government is especially significant given the untold suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza over the past more than nine months due to incessant Israeli assault. A permanent cease-fire, humanitarian assistance and reconstruction of Gaza are urgently needed.

While achieving these goals is an arduous task, the reconciliation among the 14 Palestinian factions, thanks to China's mediation efforts, has raised hopes.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the signing of the declaration, according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who added that Palestinian unity is crucial for peace and security in the region, and for fulfilling the aspirations of the Palestinian people for self-determination and full independence, on way to establishing a democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian state.

China's latest efforts followed China's successful mediation early last year between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which resulted in a rapprochement between the Middle East countries after almost seven years.

Just hours after the announcement of the Beijing Declaration on Tuesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, as if by coincidence, arrived in Guangzhou for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in a bid to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which began about two and a half years ago and shows no signs of ending.

Ukraine's willingness to engage Russia in dialogue, as expressed by Kuleba, is an encouraging sign, especially because it has been clear since the beginning that the battlefield cannot resolve the disputes between the two sides; it can only cause more deaths and destruction.

I attended an online seminar on the reconstruction of Ukraine, which was held by the European Policy Center a week ago, but was surprised to see that none of the panelists talked about the urgency of a cease-fire and peace talks. My question on the issue was ignored.

Sadly, in European Union politics today, talking about a cease-fire and negotiations with Russia is akin to appeasement and being politically incorrect. That is why Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's recent peace mission from Kyiv to Moscow to Beijing and Washington has been vilified by many EU politicians.

I wonder if these people will now accuse Kuleba of sabotage for visiting China in a bid to resolve the conflict through a cease-fire and dialogue.

Kuleba's praise for China-Ukraine relations and his reaffirmation that Ukraine adheres to the one-China policy came as a big surprise to those who have no idea about China always having good relations with both Ukraine and Russia. That's why China, from day one, has been calling for an immediate cease-fire and dialogue to end the conflict and restore lasting peace. That's also why China has remained neutral and refrained from adding fuel to the fire, unlike the United States and many of its NATO allies.

Kuleba's visit to China is itself a strong rebuttal to NATO's accusation that China is a "decisive enabler" of Russia in the Moscow-Kyiv conflict. According to NATO's absurd logic, most countries in the world support Russia in the conflict because they continue to trade with Russia and refuse to join the West in imposing sanctions on Moscow.

It is an open secret that all the accusations leveled against China in regard to the Russia-Ukraine conflict are manufactured in Washington.

The past few days have again shown that China is a peace-loving country and firmly believes that conflicts should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. I loved a tweet on X(formerly Twitter) on Wednesday which called China a "superpower for peace".

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn

The author is chief of China Daily EU Bureau based in Brussels.