Western governments welcome the phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
However, it is still unclear whether concrete steps will follow the talks.
Munich – The German government has taken the talks between China's head of state Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj as a good signal.
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has a "special responsibility to end Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine," a government spokesman said.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock put it similarly during her recent visit to China.
A spokesman for the EU Commission emphasized: "It is an important, long overdue step by China." The Chinese government must "use its influence to bring Russia to end the war of aggression".
The US also welcomed the call.
The Washington administration has long said it was important for Xi and the Chinese government to listen to Ukraine's perspective on the Russian war of aggression, said White House spokesman for the National Security Council John Kirby.
He reiterated that any peace plan "will only be sustainable or credible if Ukrainians and President Zelenskyy are personally involved and support it."
Phone call between Xi and Zelenskyj: Hope dies last
Meanwhile, in his daily video address on Wednesday night, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated the usefulness of his phone call with Xi, which he had been pushing for for more than a year.
As he previously tweeted, he described it as a "long and fairly reasonable conversation."
It could help to “give new impetus to our Ukrainian-Chinese relations.
There is an opportunity to use China's political clout to reassert the principles and rules on which peace should be based.”
Zelenskyy added that China, like Ukraine and the majority of the world community, is interested in the strength of sovereign nations, their territorial integrity and the prevention of nuclear disasters.
"We have agreed to continue our communication." According to a transcript on Zelenskyj's website, during the conversation he also reiterated his willingness to regain all occupied territories.
"There can be no peace at the expense of territorial compromises."
A statement by China's Foreign Ministry has agreed that Ukraine's territory cannot be crushed by Russia's annexations, the US news agency AP reported.
"Regardless of how the international situation develops, China will work with Ukraine to promote mutually beneficial cooperation," the AP said.
China as a mediator?
So far more pro-Russian attitude
Xi and Zelenskyy spoke on the phone on Wednesday for the first time since the beginning of the Ukraine war.
But it's far from clear that the phone call will really herald a new phase in Chinese engagement.
Politicians in the West have repeatedly brought Beijing into play as mediators in the war, most recently French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Macron emphasized on Wednesday evening that during his trip to China he had urged Xi to speak to Zelenskyy as soon as possible.
So far, however, China had not indicated that it could break away from its closeness to Russia and that it wanted to negotiate seriously and impartially.
Xi and his diplomats are not critical of Vladimir Putin's war of aggression.
Instead, they follow the Russian narrative that the US and NATO are to blame for the escalation of the conflict.
The talks between the two heads of state are now the absolute minimum requirement to get things moving at all.
Selenskyj knows that Xi Jinping would be the only one who could use enough leverage to urge Putin to make concessions - theoretically.
But he also knows that China has so far shown no signs of turning away from its close relationship with Moscow - despite all the declarations of neutrality.
Xi looks only to China's interest.
And that tends to keep Putin in power rather than collapse his system.
Ultimately, however, Zelenskyj must now try everything to keep Beijing at least in talks with Kiev.
China sends Russia experts as special envoys to the region
Xi had announced that he would send a special envoy for the Eurasian region to Kiev and other countries in the region.
Beijing's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying confirmed that the special envoy for Eurasian affairs will now travel to Ukraine and other countries "to hold in-depth talks with all parties on a political solution to the Ukraine crisis."
This envoy, the 70-year-old expert on Eastern Europe and Russia, Li Hui, has so far mainly emphasized Russia's important role in the region.
By 2019, Li had been China's ambassador to Moscow for ten years.
The extent to which Li can detach himself from his Moscow prospects will be decisive in determining whether he will be heard in Kiev.
Rubric list image: © Daniel Leal and Dmitry Astakhov/AFP/Sputnik