the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has emphatically advocated mediation by China in the Ukraine conflict. “There is no alternative. We (Europeans) can’t be the mediators, that’s clear (…) And it can’t be the USA either. Who else? It has to be China, I trust it,” Borrell said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
However, the Spanish politician admitted that there are still no concrete talks about mediation by Beijing. “We didn’t ask for it, and neither did they (the Chinese). But it has to be a great power.”
Borrell defended the supply of European arms to the war zone and the imposition of sanctions on Russia after Russian troops invaded Ukraine. Despite the diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict, these measures were imperative. The former Spanish foreign minister and ex-president of the European Parliament emphasized that this would enable the Ukrainians to defend themselves, to negotiate and, if possible, to reach a ceasefire. “And then diplomacy has to come into play,” and this is where China “must play a role,” he demanded.