On Monday, the Chinese and US governments had their first high-level, face-to-face discussions since the Ukraine war began. After Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi met US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Rome, the Americans said their six-hour talk was "substantial" while the Chinese described it as "constructive". Mr Yang issued a statement the next day, saying: "China is committed to promoting peace talks. The international community should jointly support the Russia-Ukraine peace talks to achieve substantive results, and push the situation to cool down as soon as possible."
This fits with the view of Josep Borrell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, who has advocated for China to take a leading role in trying to forge peace. "There is no alternative," he said last week. "We can't be the mediators, that is clear. And it cannot be the US either. Who else? It has to be China."
Some may be sceptical that Beijing either could or would want to take up such a mantle. Didn't China and Russia issue a joint statement in February outlining their deep "strategic co-operation" and declared their friendship had "no limits"? Chinese leaders have said Moscow's concerns about Nato expanding eastward were legitimate, and abstained from a UN General Assembly vote demanding Russia's immediate and unconditional withdrawal of its military from Ukraine. US officials are now claiming that Moscow has asked Beijing for military and financial assistance, although both deny this.
In the long term, a weakened Russia, internationally isolated and reduced to dependency on China, is not a good outcome for Beijing
But any suggestion that China has been unequivocally backing Russia is incorrect. There has been clear disquiet all along. Just a few days ago, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the situation in Ukraine was "grave" and that he encouraged "all efforts that are conducive to a peaceful settlement of the crisis". Earlier, Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated that "China firmly advocates respecting and safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries". In what has come closest to a public rebuke to Russia, he added: "This equally applies to the Ukraine issue." And recently President Xi Jinping actually referred to the conflict as a "war", as opposed to the euphemistic "special operation" that Moscow prefers, and called for "maximum restraint".
We don't know how much Russian President Vladimir Putin told Mr Xi when the two met during the Beijing Winter Olympics last month. And perhaps if Mr Putin's army had met little resistance and a pro-Russian regime had swiftly and peaceably been installed in Kyiv, the Chinese authorities may have had little to say.
But massive instability in Eastern Europe, and economic devastation in both Russia and Ukraine, while swathes of the latter are reduced to rubble, are very much not in China's interests.
China is the largest trading partner of both Ukraine and Russia, and both are very important to Mr Xi's Belt and Road Initiative. Ukraine's agriculture is significant for China, while sanctions are a dire threat to the future of the China-Europe freight trains that run through Russia.
In the long term, a weakened Russia, internationally isolated and reduced to dependency on China, is not a good outcome for Beijing. Such a scenario, if China binds itself closer to Russia, would become even worse if it adversely affected the $657 billion total trade between China and the US. This is one massive reason, too often overlooked, that provides Beijing with a powerful incentive to remain, for most of the time, within the framework of the US-led "rules-based international order", even while it chafes at a system it justifiably regards as having been created by the West and which remains centred on its values and interests.
Lastly, as Wang Huiyao, president of the Centre for China and Globalisation in Beijing, recently wrote: "The longer the war lasts, the more it will reinvigorate the western alliance around the idea of a values-based confrontation between East and West, bringing the United States and the European Union into even closer alignment, while driving military budgets up around the globe. That is not good for China, which would prefer to maintain lucrative economic ties with the West and focus its resources on domestic development."
Mr Wang is an adviser to the Chinese government. For him to write an op-ed suggesting that China act as a "neutral mediator" and, ideally, manage to reach a point that both Ukraine and Russia regard as providing them with the guarantees they require, signals at least some willingness in Beijing for the country to take up such a role.
This is surely to be welcomed. But pursuing a solution that all can come to terms with will require deep behind-the-scenes negotiations, not megaphone diplomacy. China and South-East Asian countries that have had to work around considerable maritime disputes for years know this very well. Public threats by US officials such as Mr Sullivan that there will "absolutely be consequences" if China allows Russia any kind of "lifeline" from sanctions are, on the other hand, extremely unhelpful.
The world wants a resolution to this conflict as swiftly as possible. Any party that could help enable this should be encouraged, not berated.
Company name: Play:Date
Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day
Founder: Shamim Kassibawi
Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US
Sector: Tech
Size: 20 employees
Stage of funding: Seed
Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund
Dunbar
Edward St Aubyn
Hogarth
The biog
Siblings: five brothers and one sister
Education: Bachelors in Political Science at the University of Minnesota
Interests: Swimming, tennis and the gym
Favourite place: UAE
Favourite packet food on the trip: pasta primavera
What he did to pass the time during the trip: listen to audio books
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
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Transmission: 10-speed auto
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
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The biog
Fast facts on Neil Armstrong’s personal life:
- Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio
- He earned his private pilot’s license when he was 16 – he could fly before he could drive
- There was tragedy in his married life: Neil and Janet Armstrong’s daughter Karen died at the age of two in 1962 after suffering a brain tumour. She was the couple’s only daughter. Their two sons, Rick and Mark, consulted on the film
- After Armstrong departed Nasa, he bought a farm in the town of Lebanon, Ohio, in 1971 – its airstrip allowed him to tap back into his love of flying
- In 1994, Janet divorced Neil after 38 years of marriage. Two years earlier, Neil met Carol Knight, who became his second wife in 1994
SPAIN SQUAD
Goalkeepers Simon (Athletic Bilbao), De Gea (Manchester United), Sanchez (Brighton)
Defenders Gaya (Valencia), Alba (Barcelona), P Torres (Villarreal), Laporte (Manchester City), Garcia (Manchester City), D Llorente (Leeds), Azpilicueta (Chelsea)
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Forwards: Olmo (RB Leipzig), Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Morata (Juventus), Moreno (Villarreal), F Torres (Manchester City), Traore (Wolves), Sarabia (PSG)
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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More on Coronavirus in France
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Asia Cup 2018 final
Who: India v Bangladesh
When: Friday, 3.30pm, Dubai International Stadium
Watch: Live on OSN Cricket HD
Awar Qalb
Director: Jamal Salem
Starring: Abdulla Zaid, Joma Ali, Neven Madi and Khadija Sleiman
Two stars
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
What's in the deal?
Agreement aims to boost trade by £25.5bn a year in the long run, compared with a total of £42.6bn in 2024
India will slash levies on medical devices, machinery, cosmetics, soft drinks and lamb.
India will also cut automotive tariffs to 10% under a quota from over 100% currently.
Indian employees in the UK will receive three years exemption from social security payments
India expects 99% of exports to benefit from zero duty, raising opportunities for textiles, marine products, footwear and jewellery
Draw:
Group A: Egypt, DR Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Group B: Nigeria, Guinea, Madagascar, Burundi
Group C: Senegal, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania
Group D: Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Namibia
Group E: Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Angola
Group F: Cameroon, Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau
