My Take | Why Ukraine’s foreign minister decided to visit China right now
- With isolationist Trump on the White House horizon, Kyiv needs to ‘triangulate’ diplomatic pressure on Washington, Moscow and Beijing
![Ukrainian policemen and locals check the site of a Russian rocket strike in the city of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine. Photo: EPA-EFE](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2024/07/24/aba0b5d6-8605-4bda-8f54-0c80db013425_2934e019.jpg?itok=qMQWI5n0&v=1721811396)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you are serious about negotiating for peace, you do it behind closed doors, away from the public eye. The converse is also true, that is, if you are not serious about negotiating, you talk to reporters instead.
That’s why month after month, you have Western leaders engaged in megaphone diplomacy through the media by claiming that Beijing could end Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine if it would just do it.
You have Finnish President Alexander Stubb claiming on Bloomberg, “Russia is so dependent on China right now one phone call from President Xi Jinping would solve this crisis.”
One phone call, as opposed to five? It will probably take more than a few phone calls when Putin’s political and probably personal survival depends on some versions of “victory” that he may plausibly claim in Ukraine.
Repeatedly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Beijing to help stop Putin – what with phone calls or a magic wand? – while castigating China for not taking part in the Ukraine Peace Summit, held in Switzerland last month.
![](https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/_next/static/media/wheel-on-gray.af4a55f9.gif)