A Chinese envoy on Thursday said that China opposes interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs by any foreign forces.
“China takes an objective and impartial position on the issue of Ukraine,” Wu Haitao, deputy permanent representative of the Chinese mission to the United Nations, told a Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
“We respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine,” he added.
The signing of the new Minsk agreement in 2015, which is a renewal of its first protocol reached in 2014, has played a crucial role in politically mediating the Ukrainian crisis, said Wu, adding that the authority of the agreement has been highly recognized by all parties over the past four years.
Regrettably, many provisions of the agreement have yet to be fully and concretely implemented, said the Chinese envoy.
“Efforts to politically mediate the crisis have stalled. In conflict areas, people’s life and property safety are still hard to be effectively guaranteed,” he said.
China calls on relevant parties to implement the new Minsk agreement in earnest, remain committed to political settlement of the crisis and seek a comprehensive solution to it, and resolve current problems through dialogue and consultation, Wu added.
The Minsk agreements consist of a first protocol that the Ukrainian government and the rebels reached under the mediation of Russia, France and Germany in September 2014 in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, and a more detailed renewal was signed in February 2015.
The agreements were designed to peacefully end the conflict in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, which has been plagued by conflicts between Ukrainian government troops and pro-independence armed groups since April 2014.
The agreements envisage a cease-fire, a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the contact line, a prisoner exchange and local elections, among other measures.
