Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 20, 2025
2 min readLast updated: February 27, 2026
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China supports Trump's Ukraine peace bid at G20, while US allies back Zelenskiy. Trump shifts US policy with direct talks with Putin.
By Joe Cash
BEIJING (Reuters) - China came out in support of U.S. President Donald Trump's bid to strike a deal with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, at a G20 meeting in South Africa on Thursday, while U.S. allies rallied around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Less than a month into his presidency, Trump has upended U.S. policy on the war, scrapping a campaign to isolate Moscow with a phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin and talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials that have sidelined Ukraine.
Trump on Wednesday then denounced Zelenskiy as a "dictator," prompting statements of support for the Ukrainian president from G20 members such as Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom.
"China supports all efforts conducive to peace (in Ukraine), including the recent consensus reached between the United States and Russia," Wang Yi told other G20 foreign ministers gathered in Johannesburg, according to a statement from his ministry.
"China is willing to continue playing a constructive role in the political resolution of the crisis," he added.
Wang did not reiterate the point he made at the Munich Security Conference last Friday that all stakeholders in the Russia-Ukraine conflict should participate in any peace talks.
Beijing wants to ensure its involvement in whatever deal Trump seeks to strike with the Kremlin to prevent a currently diplomatically-isolated Russia from slipping out from under its influence, and because its ties to Russia offer China an "in" with European officials worried about being frozen out of any talks, analysts say.
"By going straight to Putin, President Trump has erased what Beijing had hoped could be a key piece of initial leverage," said Ruby Osman, a China expert at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
"Instead, China might turn its attention to discussing a Chinese role in eventual reconstruction and peacekeeping - something that would give Beijing a significantly more vested interest in European security architecture," she added.
The Trump administration said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold more talks with Russia on ending the nearly three-year long conflict after a 4-1/2-hour long meeting in Saudi Arabia.
Russia said the talks had been useful, but hardened its demands, notably insisting it would not tolerate the NATO alliance granting membership to Ukraine.
(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Sonali Paul)
China expressed support for Trump's efforts to reach a peace deal with Russia regarding the Ukraine conflict during the G20 meeting.
Trump reversed the previous U.S. strategy of isolating Moscow by initiating direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump's labeling of Zelenskiy as a 'dictator' prompted supportive statements for the Ukrainian president from several G20 nations, including Australia, Germany, and the UK.
China aims to play a constructive role in the political resolution of the Ukraine crisis and seeks to be involved in any agreements made between the U.S. and Russia.
Russia described the recent talks with the U.S. as useful but reiterated its firm stance against NATO's expansion, specifically regarding Ukraine's membership.
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