On the afternoon of April 26, President Xi Jinping spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the phone at the invitation of the latter. On the evening of the same day, Da Wei, Director of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University and Vice Chair of China Forum, was invited to attend the press briefing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) at which the communication between the presidents of China and Ukraine was introduced and Da answered questions from the reporters.

It has been the first phone call between the presidents of China and Ukraine since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, which showcased the emphasis that the Chinese government put on developing China-Ukraine relations and China’s consistent efforts to facilitate talks for peace on the Ukraine crisis. Yu Jun, Deputy Director-General of the Department of European-Central Asian Affairs of the MFA, introduced the background, significance, and following arrangements of the phone talk. While answering questions from the reporters, Da Wei explained that since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, the Western countries had described the crisis as a confrontation between two camps and attempted to simply classify China into one of them, which made the communication between various parties quite difficult. Nevertheless, China has still tried its best to communicate with both conflicting parties. China is now the only major power that maintains friendly communication with both Russia and Ukraine. China has been consistent in its efforts to facilitate talks for peace, and the international community also expects China to play a further role in the Ukraine crisis.