Ukrainian law students and young lawyers are reporting for JURIST on developments in and affecting Ukraine. This dispatch is from Yulii Kozub, a law student from Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. He files this from Vienna. 

Wednesday’s telephone conversation between the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the leader of China, Xi Jinping, is one of the most important recent events on the international stage. As China is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a major economy, the conversation with the leader of China was extremely important for Ukraine.  Zelensky and Xi discussed the situation in eastern Ukraine, where Russia continues to conduct military operations against Ukrainian troops. They also discussed cooperation in economic matters, post-war reconstruction in Ukraine, and security in the Asia-Pacific region.

President Zelensky particularly emphasized the topic of Ukraine’s sovereignty and Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories. The President emphasized that China has an important role to play in supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a world leader.

“I had a long and meaningful phone conversation with the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. I believe that it, as well as the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations,” Zelensky said. The Ukrainian President also emphasized that all countries should refrain from supporting Russia, particularly in terms of military-technical cooperation and arms supplies. “Any support, even partial, that Russia receives is converted into a continuation of its aggression, into its further refusal of peace. The less support Russia receives, the faster the war will end, and peace will return to international relations,” Zelensky said.

“The political basis of the Chinese-Ukrainian relations is mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Chinese leader said. This statement by Xi drew attention from the recent interview of the Chinese ambassador to France, which caused a considerable scandal. Lu Shae questioned the sovereignty of the countries that were once part of the Soviet Union and doubted that Crimea belonged to Ukraine. In response, France, Ukraine, and the Baltic states made strong statements condemning the Chinese diplomat’s position. Lu Shae said that the former Soviet republics do not have an effective status in international law, as there is no international agreement that would materialize their status as sovereign countries. Regarding Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, he stated that this issue depends on how it is perceived and that Crimea belonged to Russia from the very beginning. In addition, Lu Shae called for an end to “disputes” over post-Soviet borders. In response, China’s Foreign Ministry issued a special statement saying that China respects the status of sovereign states after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Chinese ambassador’s statement has caused a serious scandal in the international community and led to negative reactions from a number of states. Bloomberg reports that the Chinese Embassy in France has removed the transcript of the interview with the ambassador on its WeChat account. The interview was not published on the embassy’s official website.

This situation once again emphasizes the lack of a unified vision of the Chinese authorities before the war in Ukraine. Since the beginning of 2023, there have been many requests to Beijing for a phone call from the Ukrainian side. President Zelenskyy even expressed a desire to meet with Xi Jinping at a large press conference held on February 24, 2023, the day the Chinese Foreign Ministry made public its position on the war. But instead of a phone conversation, Xi Jinping visited Moscow on March 21 of that year. On the same day, Zelenskyy met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Kyiv and signed a declaration on a distinctive global partnership. This declaration emphasized the need to “peacefully resolve problems” in the Taiwan Strait area, which was a direct reference to the rejection of China’s possible attempt to gain control of Taiwan by military means. During these talks, Zelenskyy reiterated his support for the “one China” principle, which means that the Ukrainian government is not going to recognize Taiwan as independent. However, there is no sensation in this, as this is the position of many countries around the world.

According to Xinhua News Agency, China will send a special envoy to Ukraine for negotiations to “settle the conflict.” Interestingly, China refers to the war in Ukraine as a “conflict” in its statements. It was also announced that the head of the special delegation will be former Chinese Ambassador to Russia, Li Hui.

On April 26, the President of Ukraine appointed Pavlo Ryabikin as Ukraine’s new ambassador to China. The Ukrainian ambassador to China has not been in place since the previous ambassador was recalled in 2022, after Ukraine’s decision to expel a Chinese diplomat over espionage allegations.

I believe that this conversation between Zelensky and Xi will result in increased cooperation between the two countries. But this does not negate Beijing’s 14 months of silence on the war, the repeated use of the phrase “Ukrainian crisis,” Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, and the Chinese media’s relaying of Russian propaganda about the war and China’s benefits from cheap Russian oil and other resources. The latter, by the way, does not mean that China did not take advantage of the opportunity to profit.