BY: THE SPARK
13TH MARCH, 2023
The Russian-Ukraine war which was not anticipated to last more than a year has seen destruction of infrastructure and enormous casualties especially in Ukraine. Whereas NATO, led the USA, has overtly supported Ukraine by giving out humanitarian aid and military hardware worth billions of dollars, the nature of the war has rather assumed a catastrophic posture.
NATO’s support to Ukraine gives evidence to speculations that Russia is confronting not only Ukraine, but NATO as well. This prevailing situation makes it hard for European countries and even the United Nations to serve as a peace-builder between the two feuding countries.
War in Ukraine
While China has consistently declared its neutrality, India on the other hand is vehemently providing economic assistance to Russia by purchasing the latter’s crude oil at a rather cheaper rate than the international markets.
These interesting events make China the only peacemaker or mediator option between Russia and Ukraine. Accordingly, China has proposed this twelve-point road-map to curtailing the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Putin and Xi (from left to right)
According to China, the sovereignty of all countries must be respected since “territorial integrity of all countries big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor are equal members of the international community.” In other words, taking offensive military action against any country must not be tolerated.
The proposal further calls for “abandoning the Cold War Mentality”. It states that, “The security of a country should not be pursued at the expense of others.”
Again, China calls for ‘stopping unilateral sanctions’ in order to “put an end to hostilities”. Other interesting points for ending the war include “resuming peace talks”, “resolving the humanitarian crisis”, “protecting civilians and prisoners of war”, keeping nuclear power plants safe”, “reducing strategic risks”, “facilitating grains exports”, “keeping industrial supply chains stable, promoting post-conflict reconstruction.
While China has been lauded for the initiative, it has equally been flayed for imposing sanctions on Taiwan and its industries. Questions have been raised as to why China won’t first put to practice those peace initiatives by respecting Taiwan’s sovereignty.
