THE foreign ministers of China and Ukraine met today to seek “common ground” on ending the war with Russia.

Video released by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry showed Dmytro Kuleba arriving at the meeting venue in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and exchanging remarks with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi. 

The visit, which began on Tuesday, is the first by a Ukrainian foreign minister since the war started in 2022.

Mr Wang said that China attaches great importance to its relations with Ukraine. 

The Chinese foreign minister emphasised the growth in trade between the two countries, saying that their relations have continued to develop normally “despite complex and ever-changing international and regional situations.”

China has close ties with Russia and has pushed for an end to the war that would take into account the interests of both sides. 

In February 2023, on the first anniversary of the beginning of the war, China called for a ceasefire and unveiled a framework for peace that urged all parties to avoid the crisis from “deteriorating further or spiralling out of control.”

The framework called for the sovereignty of all countries to be respected, abandoning the cold war mentality, resuming peace talks, resolving the humanitarian crisis, protecting civilians and prisoners of war, keeping nuclear power plants safe and reducing strategic risks.

The Chinese also called for grain exports to be facilitated, stopping unilateral sanctions, keeping industrial and supply chains stable and promoting post-conflict reconstruction.

The framework was dismissed by Ukraine’s main backers, the United States.

China did not participate in a peace conference in Switzerland last month that excluded the Russians.

Mr Kuleba said: “We need to move to a just and stable peace. 

“China can play a significant role in this. Let’s go.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday that China would “support the international community in gathering more consensus and jointly finding practical ways to resolve the crisis politically.”