Biden joins NATO & EU to reject China's peace proposal for Ukraine; calls it 'irrational'

The United States, on Friday, dismissed China's 12-point peace proposal tabled this week to put an end to the Russian hostilities in Ukraine. After both NATO and Europe questioned Beijing’s credibility as a mediator, in an interview with ABC News on Feb. 24, US President Joe Biden said that the implementation of such a plan would only benefit Russia. Biden's National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan also stressed that China shall have ended the plan right after the first point where it called for “respecting the sovereignty of all countries," according to a televised statement that he delivered. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also echoed Sullivan's stance, saying that the document shall have stopped after China's calls to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine. Biden, on Friday, said about the plan, "if Putin is applauding it, so how could it be any good? I’m not being facetious. I’m being deadly earnest." 

"I've seen nothing in the plan that would indicate that there is something that would be beneficial to anyone other than Russia if the Chinese plan were followed," Biden told the US broadcaster. 

Beijing's peace plan 'irrational': Biden 

Dismissing China's so-called "peace plan" as irrational, the US President continued that the fact that Beijing wants to broker peace over the terms that appear beneficial to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, is unacceptable. "The idea that China is going to be negotiating the outcome of a war that is a totally unjust war for Ukraine is just not rational," noted the US President, who recently concluded a surprise trip to Ukraine to vow more aid and "unwavering support" for the Ukrainian people.

Beijing, on the occasion of one exact year of Russian hostilities on Ukrainian soil, released a 12-point, 892-word position paper for the "political settlement" of the Ukraine crisis. Beijing berated "some countries" without directly naming the US, for compromising the security of one country at the expense of the other. NATO found mention in the paper, as China pressed that the security of a region should not be achieved by strengthening or expanding military blocs. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen rejected the paper, saying that China’s effort as a peace broker "cannot be seen as neutral" indicating the country's alliance and diplomacy with Russia. 

“It is not a peace plan, but principles that they shared – You have to see them against a specific backdrop, and that is the backdrop that China has already taken sides by signing, for example, an unlimited friendship right before the invasion,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a presser. 

“So we will look at the principles, of course, but we will look at them against the backdrop that China has taken sides,” von der Leyen added.

China doesn’t have much credibility to condemn invasion: NATO

“China’s position builds on a misplaced focus on the so-called ‘legitimate security interests and concerns’ of parties, implying a justification for Russia’s illegal invasion, and blurring the roles of the aggressor and the aggressed," EU foreign policy spokesperson Nabila Massrali said in a press call at Brussels. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also joined the condemnation of China's peace plan, saying, “China doesn’t have much credibility, they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine." Stoltenberg claimed that there have been “signs and indications that China may be planning and considering to supply military aid to Russia." China's Assistant Foreign Minister Hua Chunying, in response, accused the EU, NATO, and the US of trying to make profits from the war. Russia's Foreign Ministry, however, welcomed China's push for a comprehensive ceasefire as part of a 12-point plan suggested Friday. 

"We appreciate the sincere desire of our Chinese friends to contribute to resolving the conflict in Ukraine by peaceful means. We share the views of Beijing," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

"With regard to the Ukraine crisis, Russia is open to achieving the goals of the special military operation by political and diplomatic means," she noted. 

'We can work on that with China. Why not?': Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during a news conference on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, welcomed China's initiative, as he stressed that Kyiv needs to work with China to put an end to the war: “Our task is to unite everyone in order to isolate one,' the embattled Ukrainian President said. 

"China is talking about us. Territorial integrity. Well, I think what they are saying looks like respect for territorial integrity," said Zelenskyy, striking a positive tone for the peace plan.

"Nuclear security was mentioned as well. I think this is in line with the interests-- global interests and Ukrainian interests," he furthermore iterated.

"We need to put that to good use. We need to work on that with China. Why not?" said the Ukrainian leader. 

Biden, on Friday, also weighed in on the possibility that China is preparing to send lethal weapons to Russia, warning that it will face as "severe sanctions" as any other country that resorts to supplying weapons to Russia. "We obviously have a reason to be concerned," the US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told VOA in an earlier statement, saying that the Pentagon has evidence about Beijing planning to send lethal aid to ally Moscow. "If the People's Republic of China provides lethal support to Russia, then it becomes a co-belligerent in many ways, and there would be consequences," US State Department's second most senior official said.