Can China broker peace in Ukraine? Don't rule it out | Rajan Menon and Daniel R DePetris

Xi Jinping's courting of both Moscow and Kyiv seems to be making headway - much to Washington's chagrin

Xi Jinping's phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy was a long time coming, but it should not have come as a surprise. Beijing is on everyone's shortlist when it comes to prospective peacemakers in Ukraine. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is no exception. I know I can count on you to bring back Russia to reason and everyone back to the negotiating table," Macron told the Chinese leader during their meeting in Beijing this month.

Though Xi replied that he would call the Ukrainian president, he was in no rush. He has no illusions about the difficulty of serving as mediator in a war where Ukraine and Russia are in diametrically opposing positions. Yet China's recent success in bringing about the normalisation of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia may entice him to help engineer a diplomatic solution to the biggest war fought in Europe since 1945. But what would that solution look like?