The US on Monday said it was “productive” that China attended Ukraine peace talks hosted by Saudi Arabia, but refrained from providing further details because it was a “private meeting.”
“We did believe it was productive that China attended,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. “We have long said that it would be productive for China to play a role in ending the war in Ukraine if it was willing to play a role that respected Ukraine’s territorial integrity and Ukrainian sovereignty.”
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Attending the meeting, which was held at the Gulf kingdom’s port sea city of Jeddah, on behalf of the US were White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and Acting Deputy Secretary of State Affairs Victoria Nuland.
Sullivan and Nuland also held a brief meeting with China’s envoy for Eurasia Li Hui, who represented Beijing at the session, according to Miller.
“We thought it was productive that a number of countries were able to hear directly from Ukraine about both the violence that has been inflicted on their country by Russia and also their vision for a just and lasting peace that preserves their territorial integrity and preserves their sovereignty,” he said.
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“So we will continue to work to convince as many countries as possible around the war that when this war ends, it should end in a way that respects Ukraine’s territorial integrity, its sovereignty,” he said. “That’s the point that Ukrainian officials made this weekend. That’s the point that US officials made this weekend.”
Talks concluded Sunday with the participants agreeing on the importance of continuing consultations to pave the way for peace.
The closing statement of the two-day meeting said the talks aimed to discuss solutions to the Ukraine crisis, and the parties agreed on the necessity of continuing international consultations to find a common ground for preparing the path to peace.
Representatives of several other countries, including Türkiye, Germany, France, and Estonia, also took part in the talks.
Beijing had offered its own 12-point peace plan on the first anniversary of the Ukraine war, which was largely dismissed by the West.