China ‘clearly wants’ Ukraine war to end, top Swiss diplomat says after seeking Beijing’s help on global peace summit

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said while expecting an immediate solution to the conflict would be like chasing an “illusion”, the Swiss-hosted global peace talks were a “first step” towards resolving the situation.

“We can’t do anything if we stay seated. We are moving forward by taking the first step so I think all wars would sooner or later be terminated in a diplomatic way,” Cassis, who is in Beijing for a two-day visit, said.

“If we don’t dare to take the first step, we will never arrive anywhere.”

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Switzerland last month agreed to host a global peace summit at the request of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said the summit was “open to all countries that respect our sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

The dates and venue for the summit have yet to be declared.

Ukraine said it had invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to the talks.

Asked on Wednesday if China had accepted the invitation, Cassis said Beijing did not offer an “immediate answer”.

“It’s a high-level conference so we need participation from everyone. I hope China, who is very open, can help us,” he said.

China has maintained close ties with Russia and refrained from criticising its actions in Ukraine since it invaded the former Soviet state nearly two years ago, days after Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a “no limits” partnership between their nations.

Countries including the United States have urged China to play a greater role in ending the war in Ukraine.

“I’m interested in getting help from China because China has great relations with Russia,” Cassis told reporters on Wednesday, stressing that a solution to the war had to involve Russian participation.

“China said to us very clearly [that] it wants to stop the war. It wants the war finished.”

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Cassis’ comments came hours after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, where they discussed matters related to bilateral relations and also global security issues.

The Swiss foreign ministry said the two leaders held “extensive” talks on the Ukraine war, with “ways and conditions for peace” discussed.

A statement from the Chinese foreign ministry said the pair had an “in-depth communication” and agreed to deepen cooperation in fields including finance, science and technological innovation, and climate change.

According to the Chinese statement, Wang said China’s ties with Switzerland carried “exemplary significance” and had long been at the forefront of Beijing’s relations with the West.

At the press conference later, Cassis said he had also raised the issue of human rights abuses and Xinjiang – where the treatment of Uygur Muslims has been a contentious issue between China and the West.

The South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety, was also on the table.

China “clearly stated that it supports international law and wishes no conflict”, Cassis said, as tensions spike between Beijing and Manila over disputed islands in the resource-rich waterway.

“We have been reassured,” he said.

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After arriving in Beijing on Tuesday, Cassis held talks with Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng, who said China and Switzerland had “set a fine example of friendly cooperation between countries of different social systems and different sizes at different development stages”.

Cassis’s Beijing visit is part of a four-day trip to the Asia-Pacific. He stopped in India and South Korea earlier, and was expected to be in the Philippines on Thursday.

He said his regional tour was “very important” and “absolutely necessary given the current situation in the world”.

Ukraine would be at the centre of the discussions, he said, adding he hoped to tell countries he visited that they could contribute to ending the war.