Senior officials from the United States and Russia meet on Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for talks on improving bilateral ties and negotiating an end to the ukraine crisis. [Photo/Agencies]
China welcomes the United States-Russia talks on the Ukraine crisis and calls on all parties and stakeholders to participate in the process of peace talks at an appropriate time, the Foreign Ministry said.
"On the Ukraine crisis, China believes that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way out of the crisis, and it has been committed to promoting talks for peace," Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters on Tuesday at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
Senior officials from the US and Russia met on Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for talks on improving bilateral ties and ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Russian delegation was led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, while the US team was led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and included National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.
Held in the presence of Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the talks were part of Saudi Arabia's "ongoing efforts to promote global security and peace", the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The US-Russia talks were also expected to pave the way for a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Tuesday that the four-and-a-half-hour talks in Riyadh were successful and that the two sides discussed the terms of a meeting between Putin and Trump, according to Reuters, which cited a report by the Russian news agency TASS.
The US State Department emphasized that the peace efforts are at an early stage, Reuters reported.
"One phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient to establish enduring peace," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said, referring to the Riyadh talks and the recent phone call between Trump and Putin.
On Monday, European leaders met in Paris for an emergency meeting, voicing their continued support for Ukraine, but failing to agree on potential peacekeeping missions after the end of the crisis.
"Today in Paris we reaffirmed that Ukraine deserves peace through strength. Peace respectful of its independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, with strong security guarantee," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa said in a joint statement posted on X late Monday night after the meeting.
"Europe carries its full share of the military assistance to Ukraine. At the same time we need a surge in defense in Europe," the statement said.
Von der Leyen will take the European Commission's College of Commissioners on a trip to Kyiv next week to show support for Ukraine on the third anniversary of the conflict, a European Commission spokesperson said on Monday.
Regarding post-crisis security guarantees to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that "the details will need to be decided but the commitment is clear".
The White House distributed a questionnaire to European capitals, inquiring about their willingness to provide a security guarantee to Ukraine and participate in a peacekeeping mission, Reuters reported, but leaders at the Paris meeting were unable to reach an agreement.
At the end of meeting, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, "I'm prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground, alongside others, if there's a lasting peace agreement."
French President Emmanuel Macron, who put forward the idea, also supported sending troops.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is likely to step down after next week's federal election, has rejected sending peacekeepers to Ukraine without US involvement.
He said it is "highly inappropriate" to discuss sending peacekeeping troops before a peace plan is decided upon.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that Denmark was "open-minded" on the peacekeeping idea, but added that "a lot of questions" needed to be answered.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said before his departure to Paris on Monday that Poland had "no plans to deploy Polish soldiers to Ukraine".
Other European leaders attending the meeting in Paris included Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday during a visit to Kazakhstan that he welcomed the resumption of top-level US-Russia talks.
Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.
Contact the writers at chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn
