Updated March 27th, 2023 at 06:56 IST

Turkey backs China's peace plan if it creates 'foundation for negotiation': Erdogan's aide

"In order to neutralize the consequences of Mr Xi’s visit to Moscow, (Western countries) began to literally ignore this visit," Kalin said during the interview.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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Turkey will support China's peace plan for Ukraine if Beijing established a "foundation for negotiations," Erdogan's representative, Ibrahim Kalin, in an interview with the Turkish NTV channel. West ignored the Chinese 12-point peace plan in order "not to give credit of confidence to Beijing," he noted, adding that anti-Russian sanctions were also "poorly calculated" and only pushed China and Russia to strengthen ties. 

"In order to neutralize the consequences of Mr Xi’s visit to Moscow, (Western countries) began to literally ignore this visit," Kalin said during the interview. 

'Ceasefire, well, that’s just going to be unacceptable': Kirby

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an interview earlier that the US rejects China's peace plan as any such initiative between Kyiv and Moscow, whose military has been ensuing fierce battle on the eastern flank of Europe, is “unacceptable." Kirby noted that brokering peace isn't possible due to the "current situation" as he pointed to the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Russia, and indicated that the two countries have been strengthening ties. Kirby, during televised remarks, noted that any peace initiative for Ukraine that is endorsed by Russia's President Vladimir Putin and his steadfast ally China's Xi will be dismissed by Washington.

“What we have said before, and we’ll say it again today, that if coming out of this meeting, there’s some sort of call for a ceasefire, well, that’s just going to be unacceptable because all that’s going to do is ratify Russian’s conquest to date,” Kirby said during the interview.

During his meeting with China's President Xi, Russia's President Vladimir Putin welcomed the 12-point peace proposal document, saying that he is ready to consider it. Kremlin in a later statement noted that this sent a powerful message to Western leaders that their effort to isolate Beijing and Moscow had faltered. Putin stressed that the Chinese peace plan could provide a basis for a settlement for the ongoing offensive in Ukraine "when the West is ready for it." It is to be noted that both NATO and Europe questioned Beijing’s credibility as a mediator. US President Joe Biden said that the implementation of such a plan would only benefit Russia. Biden's National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan also stressed that China shall have ended the plan right after the first point where it called for “respecting the sovereignty of all countries," according to a televised statement that he delivered.

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Published March 27th, 2023 at 06:56 IST