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China is sending its former ambassador to Russia Li Hui to Ukraine, Russia, and several other European countries in order to discuss a "political settlement" to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Special Envoy

China has said it sought to find a negotiated end to the fighting in Ukraine almost since the full scale invasion began in February 2022, but has only recently began diplomatic efforts in earnest.

Li Hui is China's Special Representative for Eurasian Affairs, and has now been appointed as Special Envoy to Russia and Ukraine, according to Reuters.

He was appointed to that role in 2019 after having spent the previous decade as China's ambassador to Russia, and having spent much of his career in either the USSR or Russia.

Li  is a fluent Russian speaker, and according to Moritz Rudolf, a fellow at Yale's Paul Tsai China Center, represents the most politically relevant diplomat specifically assigned to the conflict, likely in a bid to show that China is serious about peace in the region.

2009-2019 🇨🇳 ambassador to 🇷🇺 (2009 – 2019).

Since 2019, Li has been the 🇨🇳 special representative for Eurasian affairs.

It remains to be seen whether Li can facilitate between the parties. Expectations remain low.

— Moritz Rudolf (@MoritzRudolf) May 12, 2023

Differing opinion from 'the collective west'

This comes after China's president Xi Jinping spoke to Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky in April over the phone for the first time since the conflict began.

In comparison, China has engaged with Russia diplomatically at the highest levels, with Xi visiting Russia in March 2023; and prior to that, China's most senior diplomat Wang Yi visited Russia in February 2023.

While Wang also met with Ukraine's foreign minister in the February trip, he did not speak with Zelensky.

Zelensky for his part has described his discussion with Xi to be "long and meaningful".

According to the Financial Times, Xi told Zelensky that he would send a political representative to speak to all involved parties, and seek a "political settlement", something that Xi has now made good on.

Li will also visit France, Germany, and Poland, all critical European partners of Ukraine in the defence against the Russian invasion.

France and Germany have been supporting Ukraine with arms shipments since the war began, but not at the same level of Poland, who as of January 2023 has donated an equivalent amount of weaponry to Ukraine as Germany, despite a smaller economy.

FT spoke to Yu Jie, a senior research fellow on China at Chatham House, who said that China was signalling its intent to act as a mediator.

He said that China's audience was not the West, but developing countries who held a differing opinion on the war in Ukraine from "the collective west".

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Top image via @moritzrudolf/Twitter & Getty