Xi Heads to Russia Next Week After China Touts Ukraine Peace Plan

File photo: 14 February 2023, China, Beijing: President of China Xi Jinping meets with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (not pictured). (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
File photo: 14 February 2023, China, Beijing: President of China Xi Jinping meets with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (not pictured). (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
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Xi Heads to Russia Next Week After China Touts Ukraine Peace Plan

File photo: 14 February 2023, China, Beijing: President of China Xi Jinping meets with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (not pictured). (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
File photo: 14 February 2023, China, Beijing: President of China Xi Jinping meets with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (not pictured). (Iranian Presidency/dpa)

Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Russia next week to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin, the two countries said on Friday, as Beijing touts a plan to end the grinding Ukraine war that has received a lukewarm welcome on both sides.

Xi's March 20-22 trip comes after China last month published a 12-point plan for "a political resolution of the Ukraine crisis" and after a senior Chinese diplomat called on Thursday for negotiations in a call with Ukraine's foreign minister.

The plan calls for the protection of civilians and for Russia and Ukraine to respect each other's sovereignty.

However, the United States and NATO have said Beijing's efforts to mediate are not credible as it has refrained from condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Xi's visit to Russia - his first in nearly four years - was in part to promote "peace", although he made no explicit mention of the Ukraine war.

He said the leaders would also exchange opinions on major regional and international issues, strengthen bilateral trust and deepen economic partnerships.

‘No limits’ partnership

The Kremlin said in a statement that Xi and Putin would discuss "topical issues of further development of comprehensive partnership relations and strategic cooperation between Russia and China". The statement also made no mention of Ukraine.

Xi will hold a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy following his Russia visit, according to some media reports. Beijing has not confirmed the call.

China and Russia announced a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing for the opening of the Winter Olympics, days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the biggest conflict seen in Europe since World War Two.

Beijing and Moscow have since continued to reaffirm the strength of their ties. Bilateral trade has soared since the invasion and China is Russia's biggest buyer of oil, a key source of revenue for Moscow.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions have fled their homes in Ukraine since the invasion and there is currently no sign of either side actively seeking an end to the conflict.

Ukraine has taken issue with Beijing's proposals for not stating that Russia should withdraw behind borders in place since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, though it later said it was open to "parts of the plan".

Russia welcomed Beijing's initiative and said it would make a "nuanced study" of the plan but has also said it sees no sign for now of a peaceful resolution.

Moscow says Ukraine must accept its annexation of four regions in the east and south of the country along with the loss of Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula it forcibly annexed in 2014.

Russia says its actions in Ukraine are a defensive pushback against a hostile and aggressive West, while Kyiv and its Western allies say they represent an imperial-style land grab.



Trump Administration Proposes Scrapping UN Peacekeeping Funding 

UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles drive in the Lebanese village of Wazzani near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, July 6, 2023. (Reuters)
UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles drive in the Lebanese village of Wazzani near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, July 6, 2023. (Reuters)
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Trump Administration Proposes Scrapping UN Peacekeeping Funding 

UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles drive in the Lebanese village of Wazzani near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, July 6, 2023. (Reuters)
UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles drive in the Lebanese village of Wazzani near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, July 6, 2023. (Reuters)

The White House budget office has proposed eliminating funding for United Nations peacekeeping missions, citing failures by operations in Mali, Lebanon and Democratic Republic of Congo, according to internal planning documents seen by Reuters.

Washington is the UN's largest contributor - with China second - accounting for 22% of the $3.7 billion core regular UN budget and 27% of the $5.6 billion peacekeeping budget. These payments are mandatory.

The proposed peacekeeping cuts are included in a so-called "Passback," the response by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to State Department funding requests for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on October 1. The overall plan wants to slash the State Department budget by about half.

The new budget must be approved by Congress, and lawmakers could decide to restore some or all of the funding the administration has proposed cutting.

The State Department was due to respond to the OMB proposal on Tuesday. During US President Donald Trump's first term he proposed cutting about a third of diplomacy and aid budgets. But Congress, which sets the federal government budget, pushed back on Trump's proposal.

"There is no final plan, final budget," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the OMB proposals.

The OMB has proposed ending Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA).

"For example, Passback provides no funding for CIPA, ending contributions for international peacekeeping due to the recent failures in peacekeeping, such as with MINUSMA, UNIFIL, and MONUSCO, and the disproportionately high level of assessments," according to an excerpt from the Passback.

US IN ARREARS

The United Nations peacekeeping budget funds nine missions in Mali, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Western Sahara, Cyprus, Kosovo, between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Abyei, an administrative area that is jointly run by South Sudan and Sudan.

The OMB Passback also proposed the creation of a $2.1 billion America First Opportunities Fund (A1OF), which it said would be used to cover a limited set of foreign economic and development assistance priorities.

"Should the Administration seek to pay any assessments for the United Nations Regular Budget or peacekeeping assessments, we would look to provide that funding from the A1OF," read the OMB Passback.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday declined to comment on "what appears to be a leaked memo that is part of an internal debate within the US government."

The US owes - for arrears and the current fiscal year - nearly $1.5 billion for the regular UN budget and nearly $1.2 billion for the peacekeeping budget. A country can be up to two years in arrears before facing the possible repercussion of losing its vote in the 193-member General Assembly.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month said he is seeking ways to improve efficiency and cut costs as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis.