Home › Politics › Beijing's peace paper and Moscow's Transnistria move
Beijing's peace paper and Moscow's Transnistria move
Summary
A look back at two diplomatic developments in the days before 28 February 2023, involving China, Ukraine, Russia and Moldova.
What was the diplomatic picture on 28 February 2023? Two developments from the preceding days framed it: a Chinese position paper on the war in Ukraine and a Russian decision touching Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria.
On 24 February 2023, China unveiled a 12-point position paper on ending the war in Ukraine. It came ahead of an expected speech by President Xi Jinping on the conflict. Ukraine said it hoped China could urge Russia to withdraw its troops in response to the paper.
Two days earlier, on 22 February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin revoked a 2012 foreign policy decree. That decree had underpinned Moldova's sovereignty in resolving the political status of Transnistria, the breakaway region.
Taken together, the two items showed diplomacy moving on separate tracks: Beijing setting out its approach to ending the war, and Moscow withdrawing a decree that had supported Moldova's position on Transnistria.
