China has tools to play peacemaker in Ukraine war, but it must use them ‘correctly’ and ‘keep neutral’, analysts say

China can use its diplomatic, political and economic leverage to play a bigger role in pushing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to help the two sides reach a ceasefire deal, according to analysts.

“This document should be considered not only as a text devoted to a specific war, but also as Beijing’s declaration that China is a state whose opinion must be counted, or at least listened to,” said Khivrenko, who served in the Ukrainian defence ministry from 1993 to 2004.

In the 12-point position paper, Beijing urged all parties to “avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions” in the hope of preventing the crisis from “deteriorating further or spiralling out of control”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia saw “no preconditions at present” for its withdrawal from Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and the US-led Nato criticised Beijing’s plan as unacceptably biased towards Russia.

Khivrenko said China’s warning against nuclear weapons and nuclear war was the most influential piece of the proposal, adding that the West had issued similar warnings, but they failed to achieve their “desired effect”.

“When the leader of the [People’s Republic of China] said his weighty word on this matter, the issue of Moscow’s potential use of nuclear weapons was almost immediately removed from the international agenda,” he said.