China's absence at Ukraine peace summit seen as sign of pro-Russia tilt

Beijing has little incentive to push for a solution detrimental to Moscow: Analysts

- Lim Min Zhang

As dozens of heads of state and global organisations gather in Switzerland this weekend to seek peace amid the Russia-Ukraine war, a key absentee will be China, which has faced scrutiny over its decision to stay away.

Beijing has publicly explained its decision at least four times in the past two weeks, most recently at the Brics Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Russia on June 10.

At that meeting of major emerging economies, Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated China's position - that the two-day summit is unlikely to lead to any real solutions in the absence of Russia.

The latter was not invited and has said it would not attend even if it had been invited.

"China supports the timely convening of a genuine peace conference that is recognised by Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation by all parties and fair discussion of all peace proposals," Mr Wang said.

While analysts saw some merit in Beijing's argument that the summit is unlikely to lead to substantive results, they said China's non-participation is clear evidence of its pro-Russia tilt despite its professed neutrality.

Associate Professor Hoo Tiang Boon from Nanyang Technological University said Ukraine is under no illusion that China is neutral, and Russia could have secured Beijing's commitment to not attend the summit during President Vladimir Putin's high-profile state visit to China in May.

"At the end of the day, China is tilted towards Russia to the extent that it cannot allow the Putin regime to fall. That's their bottom line," added Prof Hoo, a Chinese foreign policy expert.

This "nightmare scenario" seems unlikely for now, he noted, as for the past year or so, Mr Putin appears to have strengthened his political position domestically.