Jake Sullivan: Chinese ‘peace deal’ for Ukraine and Russia is ‘one-sided diplomacy’

The Biden administration is criticizing China for proposing a so-called “peace deal” between Ukraine and Russia without first talking to kyiv.

The proposal came amid claims by senior Biden officials that Russia is considering sending “lethal aid” to Russia as it continues its invasion of Ukraine, which sparked a war lasting more than a year last February.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said China is engaging in “one-sided diplomacy” and said President Xi Jinping needs to speak with Ukrainian President Volodytmyr Zelensky, who has expressed interest in discussing the proposal.

“China put forward this plan without having had a single conversation since the war between President Xi and President Zelenskyy began,” Sullivan told NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on Sunday morning.

“The Chinese have talked a lot with the Russians, but at the highest levels they haven’t talked with the Ukrainians and it’s very difficult to advance any kind of peace initiative when there’s that kind of one-sided diplomacy,” he said. saying. “So, from our perspective, the most important thing is that any peace plan offered by anyone must include Ukraine’s input.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and says he could broker a peace deal between the two nations. It comes after reports emerged that China is considering sending lethal aid to Russia in its war with Ukraine.

“As President Biden has consistently said, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine and that goes for this initiative as well as every other initiative under the sun,” Sullivan added.

President Joe Biden visited Ukraine last week on an unannounced trip to mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Biden met with Zelensky and spent five hours in the Ukrainian capital, kyiv.

During that trip, Biden promised the US another $500 million in aid for Ukraine in the war with Russia, and called on other countries to continue to show their support for the war-torn country.

Meanwhile, Republicans and national security hawks are still reeling from reports that Beijing is considering sending lethal assistance to Moscow to help it defeat Ukraine.

“The fact that President Xi and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin are meeting next week to discuss this unholy alliance that they have, to put weapons in Ukraine, is very disturbing to me,” the Texas representative said. Michael McCaul. ABC’s This Week show on Sunday morning.

“While maybe Ukraine today, it will be Taiwan tomorrow,” McCaul added. That is why it is so important.

McCaul chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is a member of the Homeland Security panel.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said it was “disturbing” that China is considering sending lethal assistance to Russia.

Biden visited kyiv, Ukraine, for five hours on an unannounced trip last week to mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion. He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in kyiv on February 20, 2023.

Sullivan says Zelensky is interested in talking to China about his ceasefire proposal and brokering a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.

“What President Zelenskyy said was that there were parts of the plan that he didn’t like and parts of the plan that he thought might be right,” Sullivan explained.

‘One part of the plan that I particularly liked is point one of the plan. Point one of the plan was: respect the sovereignty of all nations,’ the NSA told Biden. “The plan could stop there because Russia could end this war by respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty and withdrawing.”

“But what President Zelenskyy also said, and this is critical, Chuck, is that he would like to speak with President Xi,” he added.