Exclusive Record： Ambassador AARON Li introduced the details of his visit to Ukraine, Russia and other five countries.

　　｜｜AARON Li, Special Representative of China Government for Eurasian Affairs, introduced the visit.

　　Good afternoon, media friends! From May 15 to 28, I visited Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, the European Union headquarters and Russia as the special representative of the China government for Eurasian affairs, and had in-depth communication with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. I’d like to introduce the relevant situation of this visit first, and then answer your questions.

　　Ukraine is the first stop of my visit. During my visit to Ukraine, I called on President Zelensky, held talks with Ermak, Director of the Ukrainian President’s Office, and Kuleba, Foreign Minister, respectively, and listened to the briefings by the heads of the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of National Defense. During my visit to Poland, France, Germany and EU headquarters, I held talks with Polish Deputy Secretary of State Gerville, French Foreign Ministry Director-General for Political and Security Affairs Mondoloni, German Foreign Ministry Secretary Michaelis, European Council President Michel’s Office Director Bernard and EU External Action Agency Deputy Secretary-General Mora. Russia is the last stop. During my visit to Russia, I held separate meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, Deputy Foreign Ministers Rudenco and Luzin. In the communication with all parties, I elaborated on China’s position and proposition in detail, listened carefully to the opinions of all parties, and had in-depth and frank exchanges with all parties. The visit achieved the expected purpose. The Chinese delegation received a warm and friendly reception at every stop, and I once again thank the parties concerned.

　　This is the first time that China has specially sent a delegation to relevant countries to carry out diplomatic work on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. During this visit, through in-depth communication with all parties, I have the following outstanding feelings.

　　First, all parties have made positive comments on China’s efforts and all hope to resolve the crisis peacefully.Regardless of Ukraine, Russia, European countries and the European Union, all parties recognize China’s efforts to promote peace and support a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis. They all hope that China will play an active role and are willing to communicate with China in depth. Uzbekistan thanks China for playing an active role in promoting peace and talks, appreciates China’s adherence to respecting sovereign territorial integrity and abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and emphasizes that many contents in China’s position paper on political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis are in line with President Ze Lenski’s 10-point peace plan, expecting China to continue to exert constructive influence. The Russian side appreciates China’s sincere desire and practical efforts to promote a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis and expresses that it will continue to adhere to the direction of political settlement. Poland, France, Germany and the European Union all expect China to continue to exert positive influence on the Ukrainian issue, promote the peaceful settlement of the crisis, resolve differences through dialogue and achieve lasting and just peace in Europe. These statements once again show that China’s position on the Ukrainian crisis is objective, fair and impartial, and has also been highly praised by the international community.

　　Second, the risk of war escalation remains high.At present, the war is still escalating. During my three days in Ukraine, Kiev sounded the air defense alarm every day, and there were two large-scale air strikes. The battlefield is very deadlocked and full of uncertainty, and the situation is worrying. Historically, wars and conflicts ended in peace. But the spread of war will only bring more disasters and suffering. As long as there is a glimmer of hope for peace, we should make active efforts instead of letting the development of conflicts drag on, let alone adding fuel to the fire, which will lead to local conflicts turning into large-scale wars. At present, the parties may still face many difficulties when they sit down to negotiate and negotiate results, but it is important that someone come forward to promote the consensus of all parties, form the greatest common denominator, and gradually accumulate and create conditions for the final settlement of the crisis. As long as it is conducive to easing the situation and promoting negotiations, China is willing to do it.

　　Third, all parties are highly concerned about the risk of crisis spillover, especially nuclear safety, humanitarian issues, food security and other issues.

　　All parties are highly concerned about the safety of nuclear facilities in Uzbekistan. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly expressed to me their concerns about the safety of the Zaporoge nuclear power plant, and Polish officials are also worried about this. Once a nuclear disaster occurs, no one can be immune to it. All parties should take responsibility for ensuring the safety of nuclear facilities and take practical actions to ensure that the situation cools down and eases. This is the fundamental way to solve the nuclear safety problem.

　　Many countries are concerned about the humanitarian problems caused by the crisis. China attaches great importance to this, and has always played a constructive role in easing the humanitarian situation in Ukraine in its own way, supporting all initiatives and measures that are conducive to alleviating the humanitarian crisis. We put forward China’s six-point proposal on the humanitarian situation in Uzbekistan, and provided many batches of humanitarian aid to Uzbekistan. At the same time, we believe that it is the greatest humanitarianism to stop pouring oil on the fire and promote the situation to cool down as soon as possible and reduce casualties.

　　During the visit, all parties also expressed concern about the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the world grain market, which is related to the survival and well-being of people all over the world. Russia and Ukraine are both important grain producers in the world, and the implementation of the Black Sea grain transportation agreement is of great significance to ensuring global food security. China maintains that the agreement should continue to be implemented in a balanced, comprehensive and effective manner. China has put forward an international food security cooperation initiative, and is willing to strengthen communication and cooperation with all parties in this regard, promote the formation of more international consensus, and make positive contributions to ensuring world food security.

　　The Ukrainian crisis has complicated historical latitude and longitude and realistic reasons, and its essence is the explosion of contradictions in European security governance. China is neither a crisis maker nor a participant in the conflict, but an advocate of peace and a promoter of peace talks. China has always held an objective and fair position on the Ukrainian issue and has never stopped its efforts to persuade peace and promote talks. Chairman of the Supreme Leader clearly put forward the "Four Should’s" proposition, which is China’s fundamental follow-up on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. On February 24th this year, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict, China issued the document "China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukrainian Crisis", hoping to strengthen dialogue and exchanges with all parties on the basis of this document and continue to expand the common denominator of the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

　　China has always played a constructive role in the peaceful resolution of the crisis based on the above principles and called for a ceasefire. Since the outbreak of the war, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader has held meetings or phone calls with leaders of various countries, including Russia and Ukraine, and has done extensive work in all aspects. Since the beginning of this year, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader has visited Russia, received French President Macron and Brazilian President Lula in China, and telephoned President Zelensky. Political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis is one of the important contents. China has also provided Ukraine with a large amount of humanitarian assistance such as food and medicine. China’s efforts are obvious to all.

　　China’s position on promoting peace and talks and easing the situation is consistent. We will continue to implement the positions and propositions of the Supreme Leader’s Chairman, such as "Four Answers", "Four Commonness" and "Three Thoughts", strengthen dialogue and exchanges with all parties, constantly build consensus and accumulate mutual trust, promote the formation of a greater common denominator, and make China contributions to the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

　　Q: During your visit, The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to informed western officials, China proposed an agreement that would allow Russia to own parts of Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba later said that according to his contacts with all parties, no country has expressed the position mentioned in your above report. How do you comment on this?

　　AARON Li: A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has clarified the report. I don’t know who the so-called "informed western officials" in The Wall Street Journal refer to, but the relevant reports are totally untrue. China adheres to an objective and fair position, actively persuades peace and promotes talks, and always stands on the side of peace, dialogue and justice. We are doing the right thing and doing it to the end. Whether in the process of communication with Uzbekistan, Russia or Europe, our position is consistent and clear. We also released the news in time. China’s position has been widely understood and supported by the international community including Russia and Ukraine.

　　During my visit to Ukraine, I had a friendly and frank communication with Foreign Minister Kuleba himself. Uzbekistan thanked China for playing an active role in persuading and stopping the war, and appreciated China’s call for respect for sovereign territorial integrity and compliance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Foreign Minister Culeba made a personal clarification, which shows that the false report in The Wall Street Journal is not only completely untrue, but also unpopular, and it is obviously provoking Sino-Ukrainian relations.

　　I want to emphasize that China is not a party to the Ukrainian issue and will not do anything to add fuel to the fire. The Ukrainian issue is not a problem between China, Ukraine, China, Russia or China and Europe. China is willing to continue to strengthen communication and dialogue with all parties and play a constructive role in persuading and promoting talks.

　　Q: After this visit, what is your judgment on the prospect of a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis?

　　AARON Li: The Ukrainian crisis can only be resolved through dialogue and negotiation. During this visit, I feel that all parties support a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis. There may still be many difficulties for the parties to sit down and negotiate, but the parties are not completely without consensus. The Russian side said that it never opposes peace talks and has always supported solving problems through political channels; Uzbekistan also expressed its cherish and longing for peace, and the two sides have no door to peace talks.

　　If we really want to stop the war, save lives and achieve peace, we should stop sending weapons to the battlefield, otherwise it will only push up the risk of escalating tensions. China has always believed that no matter how great the difficulties and differences are, we should stick to the general direction of peace talks until a ceasefire and peace are reached.

　　I have noticed that South Africa and other African countries, Brazil and other parties have put forward initiatives to peacefully resolve the Ukrainian crisis, and China welcomes these initiatives. At present, it is important to gather the consensus of all parties, promote the formation of the greatest common denominator, and gradually accumulate and create conditions for the final settlement of the crisis. As long as it is conducive to easing the situation and promoting negotiations, China is willing to continue to do so.

　　Q: As a senior diplomat, you have visited Europe and Eurasia many times. Your visit bears a great mission. As far as personal feelings are concerned, what is the difference compared with previous visits?

　　AARON Li: I have worked in Russia for many years, and I have visited Ukraine and many European countries many times. This visit is regarded as revisiting my old place for me. But compared with the past, this visit is really different. The most intuitive feeling is the inconvenient transportation. As there is no flight to Ukraine, the first stop of our trip is to Kiev via Poland, and the train journey from Kiev to Warsaw is as long as 18 hours. Due to the suspension of flights between Europe and Russia, the direct flight from Brussels to Moscow originally took only three hours, but now it takes a whole night to get there by bypassing Istanbul. I think this is the most intuitive embodiment of the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the economic and social life of all countries.

　　This is only one aspect of transportation. Ukraine, Russia and European countries used to have very close economic, cultural and social exchanges, but now many of them have been artificially cut off. It is not other countries on the other side of the ocean that have suffered the most, but Ukraine, Russia and European countries. The longer the crisis drags on, Ukraine, Russia and Europe will bear greater sacrifices and pay greater prices. Getting out of the crisis as soon as possible is beneficial to all parties, which is also the starting point for us to persuade and promote talks.