After China and Brazil, among others, snubbed Switzerland’s invitation to participate in the peace-in-Ukraine conference at the Bürgenstock mountain resort, the two BRICS members presented their own list of how to resolve the situation peacefully.
Here it is, the “Global South’s” proposal for how peace can be achieved in Ukraine:
-
- The two sides [China and Brazil] call on all relevant parties to observe three principles for deescalating the situation, namely no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting and no provocation by any party.
- The two sides believe that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis. All parties should create conditions for the resumption of direct dialogue and push for the deescalation of the situation until the realization of a comprehensive ceasefire. China and Brazil support an international peace conference held at a proper time that is recognized by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation of all parties as well as fair discussion of all peace plans.
- Efforts are needed to increase humanitarian assistance to relevant regions and prevent a humanitarian crisis on a larger scale. Attacks on civilians or civilian facilities must be avoided, and civilians including women and children and prisoners of war (POWs) must be protected. The two sides support the exchange of POWs between the parties to the conflict.
- The use of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons and chemical and biological weapons must be opposed. All possible efforts must be made to prevent nuclear proliferation and avoid nuclear crisis.
- Attacks on nuclear power plants and other peaceful nuclear facilities must be opposed. All parties should comply with international law including the Convention on Nuclear Safety and resolutely prevent man-made nuclear accidents.
- Dividing the world into isolated political or economic groups should be opposed. The two sides call for efforts to enhance international cooperation on energy, currency, finance, trade, food security and the security of critical infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines, undersea optical cables, electricity and energy facilities, and fiber-optic networks, so as to protect the stability of global industrial and supply chains.
The list partially overlap with the initial and more practical steps suggested by the conference organizer Switzerland: food security (export of agricultural products from Ukraine), nuclear security, and exchange of prisoners of war.
The ten-point list that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky brings to the Bürgenstock conference table is considered impossible as it demands that Russia abandon all the territorial gains it has made since 2014 and also pay war reparations and subject its leadership to prosecution for war crimes.
Sources
- Chinese consulate in Los Angeles: Common Understandings Between China and Brazil on Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis
- SCMP: China and Brazil jointly urge Ukraine war de-escalation, propose ‘international peace conference’
- RT: Zelensky bitterly disappointed with Сhina – Spiegel
- People’s Daily Online (China): China hopes Summit on Peace in Ukraine not to turn into bloc confrontation platform
- SWI: How the Ukraine conference in Switzerland aims to find a path to peace