China, which decided to skip the Global Peace Summit, is now trying to promote its peace plan, reports Reuters.
Several anonymous diplomats told the agency that China had tried lobbying governments for its alternative plan.
After China announced it would not attend the Summit in Lucerne, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Beijing of helping Moscow disrupt the meeting. However, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected this accusation.
According to the diplomats, in conversations with developing nations, China did not openly criticize the Swiss Summit or directly ask countries to abstain.
Instead, those who spoke directly with Beijing said that China claimed the Summit would allegedly prolong the war. Meanwhile, two anonymous diplomats, who are directly familiar with the matter, said that China even told Western countries that many nations agreed with its views on the conference.
Moreover, according to Reuters, as the Summit approached, China intensified its informational efforts through meetings with foreign high-ranking officials, phone calls, and messages to foreign missions on the Chinese platform WeChat.
Explaining why it would not attend the Summit, China attempted to rally developing countries to join its six-provisions peace plan, which it issued with Brazil last month.
Earlier, we reported that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning explained why China declined to participate in the Peace Summit.
It is also noteworthy that the Global Peace Summit will take place this weekend. It is based on the Ukrainian ten-provisions formula. More details on Zelensky's peace formula can be found in the RBC-Ukraine material.